"In 2022 alone, there were 14 projects with more than 60,000 overnight stays and 44.7 m EUR in spending. A total of 6.4 m EUR VAT was paid, the projects employed more than 4,000 people and a hundred interns," said Tanja Ladović Blažević, the director of Filming in Croatia, at a recent professional symposium PROFilm Days, hosted by the Zagreb Film Office and the Academy of Dramatic Arts.
Last year, there were 286 days of filming, of which 29 were in units of below-average development, while the average consumption per day of filming was 156,000 EUR. Zagreb was in first place with 79 days of filming. The biggest production in the city in 2022 was Canary Black, directed by Pierre Morel and produced by Anton (UK) and Sentient Entertainment (USA), and serviced by MP Production.
“Canary Black was a demanding project. We had 175 security people who let citizens through between frames (given that the location had to be secured due to fast cars and stunt scenes), 50 policemen, 40 firefighters and several ambulances. Zagreb has become very recognisable on the European film map. I hope that we will go on a path where we will stand alongside Prague, Bratislava, Budapest and Munich," said Igor Nola, the CEO of MP Production.
Unfortunately, not all Croatian regions can boast such a trend: while the coastal and central parts of the country are attracting a growing number of filmmakers, the agricultural region Slavonia in Eastern Croatia hasn't hosted any projects so far, regardless of the 30 percent cash rebate given for areas with below-average development.
As an integral part of HAVC, the Filming in Croatia department administers the production incentive programme and promotes Croatia as an international production location. Croatia offers 25% cash rebate and additional 5% for productions filming in regions with below average development.
The president of the world organisation of location managers LMGI John Rakich from Canada, together with his colleagues Benjamin Hendriks from the Netherlands and E.J. Richards from Great Britain, revealed they’ve toured Croatia in the past weeks, from Istria and Dubrovnik to Varaždin in the north of the country, in search of new locations for their next projects.
