How to Find Money in Lithuania

Learn more about how to save money while making your dream project in Lithuania come true. The key funding body: Lithuanian Film Centre

Lithuanian Film Tax Incentive

The Lithuanian Film Tax Incentive came into effect in January 2014 as a new policy measure to foster local and foreign film production in Lithuania.

The Lithuanian Film Tax Incentive provides an opportunity to save money on film production budgets through a private investment scheme.

Key information

• Save up to 30% of your film production budget

• Available for the production of feature films, TV dramas, documentaries and animated films, including domestically produced, co-produced or commissioned films (produced under the service agreement).

How It Works

As a foreign filmmaker, you must cooperate with one of the local production companies that submit the application. The local company takes the responsibility for finding a local business company willing to support up to 30% of your production budget in exchange for reduced corporate income tax.

Production Criteria

The Film Tax Incentive is only available for films that meet the approved production and cultural criteria requirements. For more detailed information on the requirements, visit www.lkc.lt/en.

The project has to meet all of the following production criteria:

• At least three days of shooting take place in Lithuania in the course of the production (except for animation projects);

• At least 20% of an animated film’s production costs in Lithuania must be incurred for producing two of the elements: shooting (if it is required by the script); characters and/or backgrounds design; layouts and/or storyboards; visual effects;

• At least 51% of the crew hired by the Lithuanian production company are citizens of Lithuania or citizens of other European Economic Area (EEA) countries.

• The total amount of eligible spend in Lithuania has to be no less than

€ 43,000

Facts And Figures

Due to the Lithuanian Film Incentive, in 2022 film productions received

€ 17,862,777

• Foreign projects received € 10,537,162

• Co-production projects received € 1,858,855

• National projects received € 6,205,927

In 2022, the Lithuanian Film Incentive was used by 63 national, 9 co-production and 13 foreign (production service-based) film projects.

The biggest foreign projects that benefited from the Lithuanian Film Incentive in 2022:

• Sci-fi feature film Paradise (Germany, Austria, Switzerland – Netflix), € 2,752,762 received;

• Adventure TV show Ronja the Robber’s Daughter (Sweden – Viaplay)

€ 2,119,970 received;

• Historic mini-series Sisi 2 (Germany, Austria – Epic Drama) € 2,097,989 received.

MINORITY CO-PRODUCTIONS

Requirements in order to be considered a minority co-production:

• Co-production (preliminary) agreement that complies with the provisions of the European Convention on Cinematographic Co-production or other international Co-production Treaties between Lithuania and other countries.

• Production companies must deliver substantial information confirming that the financing for production which makes no less 50% of the whole budget has already been committed;

• 95% of the financial grant should be spent in Lithuania;

• A script or script treatment in Lithuanian.

Maximum amounts of funding per project (agreements must be provided):

• Up to € 100,000, if the project involves at least one Lithuanian film editor, sound director, costume designer, main actor, senior animation artist, or senior animation frame artist;

• Up to € 200,000, if the project involves at least one Lithuanian co–author–director, scriptwriter, director of photography, production designer, composer, director of animation, or senior animation character artist.

For more information regarding funding, please contact:

Deimantas Saladžius

+370 6586 8822 d.saladzius@lkc.lt

Basic facts: Lithuania is a country in the Baltic region of northern-eastern Europe, with a population of 2.8 million. One of the three Baltic states, it is situated along the south-eastern shore of the Baltic Sea. Lithuania is a member of the EU; its currency is the euro; official language – Lithuanian although English and Russian are widely spoken.

Locations: with an area of 65,200 square kilometres, Lithuania is full of unique

Irma Šimanskytė +370 6193 6334 i.simanskyte@lkc.lt and versatile locations. Vilnius, Lithuania’s capital, was founded in 1323. Its Old Town is one of the largest in Europe and is a designated UNESCO World Heritage Site. lkc.lt/en

The three biggest cities, Vilnius, Kaunas and Klaipėda, are full of architectural monuments that speak of a multifaceted history and offer gothic, neoclassical, baroque, art-deco, constructivist, and contemporary backdrops.

Nature: 30% of the country is covered with forests, there are 2 830 lakes larger than 0.5 hectares, and 18 rivers longer than 100 kilometres. Thanks to its four seasons, Lithuanian landscapes are rich with colour from white to yellow, red and orange, to green and blue.

Advantages of filming in Lithuania: talented & experienced crew, highspeed internet, wide range of filming backdrops in one place, perfect for projects set in any time period.