Tax Incentives Spark New Wave of Mexican Filmmaking

There are few more powerful public-sector mechanisms than tax incentives.Mexico is a case in point.

The producers of “Time Share,” which won the World Cinema Dramatic Special Jury Award for Screenwriting at Sundance; Berlin competition player “Museum”; and Alfonso Cuarón’s upcoming “Roma” are, in many senses, the fruit of a tax mechanism known as Eficine 189, which has helped power a Mexican film renaissance.Introduced in 2006-07, this incentive has increased tax break coin from 500 million pesos ($27 million) in 2014 to $37.8 million in 2017.

Feature film production has risen with it, from 14 films in 2002 to 69 in 2010 and 173 last year.“In financing terms, the tax incentive has been the motor driving the growth of Mexican cinema,” says Jorge Sánchez, director of Mexico’s Imcine.They have other advantages.

Aiding film financing, they facilitate market entrance.

“The tax incentive launched in Mexico from 2006 drove up production volume, allowing us young producers to get established and to begin to be considered

Read full article