RioFilme announces cash rebate program with a budget of BRL 15 million

For the first time in its history, RioFilme, which is part of SEGOVI, the Secretary of Government and Public Integrity of the Rio City Hall, announced its first cash rebate program. The Incentive Notice for the Attraction of Audiovisual Productions for the Municipality of Rio allows Brazilian productions from other states and countries to have a return of up to 35% of the amounts spent in the city. The funds invested in this line total BRL 15 million (approximately USD 3 million) and will be made available on a continuous flow basis.

With wide international use, there are more than 100 locations in the world (among countries, states, regions and cities) that use these economic mechanisms to strategically attract audiovisual productions, such as New York (with different economic mechanisms), Paris and its metropolitan region (30% rebate tax), and here in Latin America, the neighbors, Medellín with a cash rebate of 15% and Buenos Aires, which announced the launch of a cash rebate for this year.

Funds from the Public Notice will be distributed among three categories: International Productions of Non-Advertising Works Filmed in Rio, which will have an investment of BRL 2 million per proposal, totaling BRL 9 million; Production of Non-Advertising Audiovisual Work of National Reach from other Brazilian States, which will have the maximum support per proposal of BRL 1 million, totaling BRL 4 million; and Audiovisual Production of a Foreign Advertising Work Filmed in Rio de Janeiro, with BRL 2 million in resources, to be distributed in investments of up to BRL 500 thousand per proposal.

It is important to emphasize that all proposals must have a producer from Rio de Janeiro responsible for the project through a co-production or service provision regime. The bidder will be the manager of the resources invested by RioFilme. The public notice provides for the investment of 30% in international productions and those from other states that film in the municipality. If the city of Rio is the story’s main setting, the amounts invested by RioFilme could reach 35% cash rebate.

The Public Notice also requires that each international production of non-advertising work has at least two locations that can be identified as Rio de Janeiro, and that it debuts in at least six non-Portuguese-speaking countries with at least 100 million inhabitants. In the case of feature films, productions must be fiction or animation, while serial works must have at least three episodes, which in this case can be fiction, animation or reality show.

In the category that benefits productions from other Brazilian states, the Public Notice requires that Rio be identified in at least five locations in the story. In this line and in advertising works, there is a very important rule for workers in the audiovisual sector in Rio de Janeiro: the public notice requires that at least three heads of the technical and artistic teams are Brazilians residing in the municipality for at least two years. The rules on the genres of productions are the same applied to international productions: fiction or animation for feature films and fiction, animation or reality for serial works.

Regarding advertising works, at least one of the locations of the piece must be identified as in the city of Rio. Campaigns that show a negative image of the city will not be accepted.

Applications for the Public Notice to Incentive to the Attraction of Audiovisual Productions for the Municipality of Rio de Janeiro will be open until all resources made available by RioFilme are invested. For more information, click here.