13-08-2013

Romania and Israel Seek Future Co-productions

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    BUCHAREST: Romania and Israel could soon be co-producers on films for the first time, following an agreement signed by Romanian Minister of Culture Daniel Barbu and the Israeli ambassador, Dan Ben-Eliezer.

    While seen as an important precedent, the pact is essentially a declaration of intent with no concrete terms yet specified for co-production financing or percentages of involvement by each country. The deal, signed 12 August, does aim to increase the number of co-productions between both countries, however.

    It also pledges to set up legal structures for the collaboration under the Cultural, Educational and Scientific Program signed by the governments of both countries.

    Up to now Romanian-Israeli co-productions have been almost non-existent, despite productive film output levels by both countries. One exception was Eran Riklis's feature The Mission of the Human Resources Manager, shot in Israel and Romania in 2009. The dramedy was co-produced by 2TeamProductions (Israel), Germany's Pallas Film, France's EZ Films and Romania's Hai-Hui Entertainment.