Colombia. Thanks to the first Film Law (Law 814 of 2003), the growth of national production has been promoted, so that in these 8 years 196 films were released, 68% of the total production of the last 22 years. Since its creation, this Law has contributed to the sector between Tax Incentives and FDC Stimuli, 348,562 million pesos supporting 3,165 film projects.
Likewise, thanks to the Colombian Film Law (1556 of 2012), between 2013 and 2017 27 foreign films have been shot in the country.
As for the conquest of new audiences for our cinema, in 2016 national films were seen by 4.8 million spectators in the country's cinemas, a record figure compared to previous years. Market share in 2016 was 7.8%, 2 percentage points higher than in 2015, an important growth considering that the total market grew by 4%.
During the period of the Santos Government, Colombia began to be perceived as a country that has an interesting balance between production costs and technical and artistic quality, and also to be identified as a country with the potential to export film services to markets as important as those of the United States and Europe.
This was the reason why in 2012 Law 1556 was enacted, which has as its fundamental objective to promote the national territory as a stage for the filming of cinematographic works, so this law has attracted new businesses, has opened jobs and has provided greater experience and knowledge of the trade to technical personnel, through contact with professional production teams.
All this has been given as a result of the commitment made by the Ministry of Culture, in the management of the artistic and industrial development of cinematography, promoting creation and supporting all subsectors to obtain a greater and better national film production and a film industry of its own and stable in Colombia.
"With the Colombia Film Law, we have promoted our territory as a stage for the filming of films and we managed to become one of the best alternatives for film shooting. This, thanks to the fact that we give incentives to the production and logistical expenses that are made in the country, "says the Minister of Culture, Mariana Garcés Córdoba, who has been in charge of this portfolio for the last seven years.
Colombian cinema has had an important international recognition. In 2015 there was an unprecedented participation in the Cannes Film Festival, the film The Earth and the Shadow, César Acevedo's first feature film, received the Golden Camera for best debut film of the Festival, in addition to being awarded with three other recognitions within the Critics' Week: the SACD (Society of Authors), France 4 Visionary Award (Revelation Award) and Le Grand Rail D'Or (Audience Award).
To this recognition was added, the award for 'The Embrace of the Snake', directed by Ciro Guerra, which managed to obtain Art Cinema Award as best film, considered the most important award in the framework of the Directors' Fortnight. And as already mentioned, in 2016, this film was nominated for the Oscars, in the category of best foreign film, a milestone in the history of our cinematography.
And the achievements continue. In 2017, the country is the guest of honor at the 39th edition of the Clermont-Ferrand International Short Film Festival, the world's leading short film festival, while the film The Defense of the Dragon, by Natalia Santa, was selected in the Directors' Fortnight of the 70th Cannes Film Festival to participate for the Golden Chamber award for best debut film.
The Ministry of Culture in its commitment to strengthen the management and organization of film festivals and exhibitions in Colombia, through support for its processes of circulation of national and international audiovisual and cinematographic content, training of audiences, training of filmmakers and industry events, granted in 2016, incentives to 32 festivals and film exhibitions.
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