jerusalem: The Israeli film industry is not unlike the Canadian film industry of the mid-’80s. Service production of big American pictures like Rambo iii and Not Without My Daughter dried up in 1991 when government incentives were withdrawn, u.s. independent production decreased, and Mediterranean countries like Morocco offered tasty little packages like free hotel accommodation. Canada’s rallying cry was, ‘Let’s coproduce.’ Israeli filmmakers have issued a similar charge, but their government’s response has been slow.

During the opening-night ceremonies of last month’s Jerusalem International Film Festival, Micha Harish, director general of the Ministry of Industry and Trade, once again floated his government’s promise to create a new us$55 million coproduction fund for film and television – half of which will come from the public purse and half from private investors. Producers are hoping the finance minister will approve funding by October, making it operational by January 1996.

‘Until now, Israel has not entered into many coproductions because they could not bring much money to the table,’ says Alona Abt of Argo Films in Tel Aviv. The new fund will go a long way in changing those dynamics, and Canada is in a good partnering position because of its official coproduction agreement with Israel. However, the fund is open to everyone, not just the countries Israel has official coproductions with.

Marek Rozenbaum, head of the Israeli producers association and a producer at Transfax Film Production, is skeptical that the government will be able to raise any private funding for the new fund, and says it will probably offer only us$25 million in the first year.

Some headway has been made on the documentary front. The Ministry of Culture created the us$1 million New Fund For Creative Israeli Cinema and T.V. for documentaries and television productions last year.

One step back

However, the local film industry has taken one step back. This year, the mit reduced its us$7.5 million contribution to the Fund for the Promotion of Israeli Quality Films by us$2.25 million, despite the fact the Ministry of Culture made good on its matching grant of us$7.5 million to the Quality fund.

Industry representatives are optimistic the Israeli government will top up the fund. ‘The year is not yet over and the mit might still come through,’ says Sylvain Sternfeld, deputy director of the Israeli Film Centre. Producers are lobbying to have the Quality fund increase its investment in Israeli features from us$300,000 to us$500,000. An average Israeli film costs us$700,000 to produce.

While producers are pleased with feature expenditures of us$7 million in 1995, Rozenbaum says his association is disappointed with the lack of independent production commissioned by the commercial channel launched last year.

In addition, the association is backing the government’s ongoing court battle with the local cable consortium. The government wants the cable companies to revise how they buy programming. ‘This (lawsuit) is the only Israeli production they are doing in this country,’ says Rozenbaum.

On the distribution side, the Israel Film Centre, a division of mit, has an envelope of us$210,000 to promote tv projects which have export potential. If the Israeli distributor has a letter of interest or licence agreement with a foreign broadcaster, the ifc will advance up to us$20,000 seed money to the project. ‘This is grant money and not equity,’ says Sternfeld.

The government also has an incentive program for features. Israeli films (and official coproductions) are entitled to a grant based on the number of tickets the film sold in Israeli theaters. This plan is paid for by cinema owners who have been hit with a 2.5% levy on all movie ticket sales.