Martin Smatlak director of the Slovak Audiovisual Fund told FNE “We want to open up the cash rebate in 2014. The amendment goes into force in January 2014.” He added that the cash rebate system will be available to Slovak films as well as foreign films that meet a minimum spend requirement. The minimum, which is still under discussion, is likely to come in at 2m EUR.

The government will provide separate funds for the rebate scheme so that it will not be mixed in with the grants distributed by the Fund.

“It happened very quickly,” Smatlak said, because of support from three Slovak ministries.

Slovakia has seen few foreign films shooting there in the past decade. The former Koliba Film Studio, which functioned as a TV studio for several years, has been shuttered, although there is discussion about the construction of a new studio located closer to the border with Austria. Without an active foreign film service industry in Slovakia, it is thought that Slovak filmmakers could be the first beneficiaries of the cash rebate.