CMGwas founded as an umbrella organisation by 14 Macedonian companies includingsuch feature film production houses as Sector Film (Border Post) and Partysans(Balcancan) to establish the
"TheMacedonian market is very finite for them being a small market in a smallcountry," CMG manager Dimitar Stojko explained in an exclusive interviewto ScreenDaily.com. "They have hit a kind of glass ceiling, so thedecision was to unite and see if one can attract foreign capital and foreignproducers to come to
Buildingof the Film City should be completed by the beginning of 2008, with the newfacility's studio infrastructure being financially supported by the UnitedNations, the European Union's Agency for Reconstruction and USAID, and thepossibility of strategic partnerships are already being explored with suchcompanies as Pixar, Lucasfilm, Deutsche Telekom, Swisscom, Fujifilm, Kodak andTechnicolor.
Inthe light of the incentive schemes operating elsewhere in Eastern Europe to woointernational productions, Stojkov said that it will one of CMG's "toppriorities" to work with the Macedonian government on the introduction oftax breaks or incentives for visiting productions.
"Weunderstand that this will be one of key questions for outside producersdeciding whether to come to Macedonia," Stojkov noted, pointing out thatthe Film City initiative "would bring capital into the Macedonian filmindustry and provide the local professionals with the chance to gain invaluableexperience on working for these outside productions."
Inaddition, the
Thisnew venture comes as the final preparations are underway for the establishmentof the Macedonian Film Fund from
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