Argentinian Producers Look At Streamers Levy To Help With Funding Crisis

A group of leading film and television producers in Argentina are making an appearance in Berlinale this week under the banner Cine Argentino Unido. The group hopes to raise awareness of what it describes as an "ongoing public funding crisis."

Local productions rely heavily on funding from INCAA, the Argentinian national film and television institute. But that funding has dried up since the institute head Nicholas Batlle resigned in December following a disagreement with the newly elected far-right president Javier Milei.

Approving a new president for the INCAA seems unlikely in a climate where the new government is promising substantial cuts in cultural funding.

“We are going to close it, just like Public Television, just like Télam,” President Milei promised in a recent television interview, where he said that the stimulus programs for national productions constitute “privileges” and that cultural investment “generates a deficit. Yes, generates a deficit, it is because you do not generate a product that is appealing to the market . Under normal conditions it should not exist."

Some Argentinian producers have proposed the introduction of a national production cash rebate to support local productions and attract shoots from international producers. Other producers are proposing a levy on streaming revenue in the country that would be earmarked for local film and television productions.