Costa Rica announced this past week that the South Pacific of the country will become the first “Film Friendly Zone“, an attractive and friendly space for the realization of audiovisual productions.
The Foreign Trade Promoter (Procomer) reported that this area has wonderful settings such as beaches, mountains, cities, rural areas, among other ideal environments to tell the stories that the global audiovisual production industry demands.
“The southern region of the province of Puntarenas has ideal conditions for the development of a Film Friendly Zone and for that reason it was selected to carry out this first project. Our goal is to develop capacities in other regions of Costa Rica and, in this way, be more attractive to large productions,” said Procomer General Manager Pedro Beirute.
Procomer indicated that a cooperation agreement was signed with the Film Commission of Costa Rica, the local governments of Buenos Aires, Corredores, Coto Brus, Golfito, Osa and Pérez Zeledón, as well as the Federation of Municipalities of the southern region of Puntarenas.
Collaborative relationship between different sectors
As explained by the authorities, a Film Friendly Zone is a model that designates an attractive region for the realization of audiovisual productions. What it seeks is to promote an economic, geographical or social zone that helps communities through a collaborative relationship between different sectors attracting audiovisual investment, generating productive chains and economic development in the region.
Worldwide examples
The counties in the states of Texas, California and Georgia, in the United States; as well as Coquimbo, in Chile; London, in the United Kingdom; Río Negro, in Argentina, and several of the states of Mexico are examples of other Film Friendly Zones developed in the world, to attract foreign investment to their regions.
Milestone
“The signed agreement represents a milestone for the region and for the country in general, since it is the beginning of a project that will show the world the potential and opportunities that exist for large audiovisual productions. This project promotes development and will bring training and preparation to its people, to attend projects that generate economic benefits and employment,” said the Minister of Foreign Trade, Andrés Valenciano.
The next steps are to create a catalog of service providers for filming projects, conduct high-level training for companies, develop a catalog of both public and private locations, provide ease of filing permit procedures, and create regional incentives. for projects that decide to film in the area.
