QCOSTARICA — A new adventure reality show will be filmed in the picturesque region of Guanacaste, announced the Promoter of Foreign Trade of Costa Rica (Procomer) and the Comisión Fílmica (Film Commission).
This is the first project to take advantage of the incentives offered by the Ley de Atracción de Inversiones Fílmicas (Film Investment Attraction Law), designed to attract foreign filming.
The benefits of this law include tax exemptions, such as temporary import taxes on equipment necessary for production.
Since 2021, as part of the actions to promote the film industry, Procomer and the Film Commission have been working on the launch of six “Film Friendly Zones” in the different regions of the country, a model that designates an attractive and friendly region for the realization of audiovisual productions.
Procomer explained that the “Film Friendly Zones” are an economic, geographic or social zone that promotes and helps the sector through a collaborative relationship between different sectors that manage to attract audiovisual investment, generating productive chains and economic development in the region.
“With these types of projects, Costa Rica will also be recognized for exporting content. These productions will bring direct and indirect employment to the region, links with national suppliers and, of course, a great international projection for our country through the export of this content,” said Manuel Tovar, Minister of Foreign Trade.
For her part, Laura López, General Manager of Procomer, highlighted the organization’s commitment to promoting the Costa Rican audiovisual industry.
“At Procomer and the Film Commission, we are committed to promoting Costa Rica’s audiovisual industry, turning it into an international benchmark and growing exports in this sector. This is through initiatives such as the Film Friendly Zones, the promotion of the Film Investment Attraction Law and our participation in international audiovisual events and markets. This new project that comes to the country is the fruit of the work that we have been doing in these areas and that, without a doubt, will bring many opportunities outside the Greater Metropolitan Area (GAM), in this case for Guanacaste and its surroundings,” said Lopez.
This new project represents a significant advance for Costa Rica in the global film industry, estimated at US$40 billion annually worldwide.
In addition, the Film Commission has been promoting national productions and Costa Rica as an attractive destination for filming at key international events such as the European Film Market at Berlinale and the Marché du Film at the Cannes International Film Festival.
From 2018 to 2022, both Procomer and the Film Commission, reported more than US$27 million dollars in audiovisual productions in the country, ranging from films to reality shows and commercials.
