Alexander Alfie
04/26/2021 7:49 PM
Clarín.com
Politics
Updated 04/26/2021 9:55 PM
President Alberto Fernández led the launch of a plan to promote the
production and export of audiovisual content,
during an event at the Casa Rosada Bicentennial Museum, attended by representatives of the industry, such as actor Pablo Echarri and producer Adrián Suar , who were placed in the front row.
"The crisis does not stop us, nothing stops us," said the president, when presenting the Argentine Content Plan. "The peoples need bread to be well fed, but they need art to feed the soul," said the president. And he added: "We are taking a step so that our soul is nourished by the best that we have."
The plan has three
benefits for companies in the audiovisual sector
: a discount in the payment of profits, ranging from 20% to 60%, depending on the size of the companies; a reduction of 70% in the contribution of employer contributions; and a reduction in export duties, which go from the current 5% to 0% with this official plan, which applies rights established in the Knowledge Economy Law and adds new tax incentives, as a framework of the activity in AFIP that allows a quick refund of VAT on exports.
As announced by the Government, as a whole, these measures impact an improvement that can reach 25% in the cost of a production of audiovisual content for export.
It is a sectoral agreement for the audiovisual industry that is the first reached within the framework of the Economic and Social Council (CES).
"We have had a pandemic for a long year with all the pain that this entails. In this time,
one of my biggest concerns was seeing
how we kept the performance going.
How our actors and actresses, despite the pandemic,
could continue to produce joy,
"said Fernández.
Paraphrasing Héctor Alterio, when in the film Caballo Salvajes he said his remembered phrase, “the whore
that
is worth
being alive”, Alberto Fernández affirmed to be sure
that “
this plan
” is worth it
, because if there is something distinctive in Argentina they are the quality of our actors, actresses, musicians, film directors, producers, television directors.
"That is why this step that we are taking
within the framework of the Economic and Social Council
is very important, because we can agree to diagram the future, to see how in the midst of so many crisis we are able to take oxygen, breathe deeply and say ' Here we go ', all together, in a very difficult time due to the pandemic, each one making the effort that corresponds to him, "said the President.
Alberto Fernández closed the event in which a plan was announced to promote production, sale of services, international co-production and job creation
in the audiovisual content sector
, with tax benefits and subsidies that seek to rebuild an industry hit by the coronavirus pandemic.
The President was accompanied by the President of the CES and Secretary for Strategic Affairs, Gustavo Beliz; the ministers of Culture, Tristán Bauer, and of Productive Development, Matías Kulfas; the Secretary of Media and Public Communication, Francisco "Pancho" Meritello; and the president of the National Communications Agency (ENaCom), Claudio Ambrosini. In addition there were the secretary of Cultural Development, Lucrecia Cardoso; and the Undersecretary of the Knowledge Economy, María Apólito.
The launch was
attended by a large part of the audiovisual industry
, such as Echarri (Sagai), Suar (Artear and Polka, from Grupo Clarín), Alejandra Darín (Argentine Association of Actors) and Sebastián Rollandi (Channel 9, from Grupo Octubre ), among others, in the facilities of the Bicentennial Museum, while another group of referents participated in the act in virtual form from four screens that were located on the sides of where the official act was held.
An
institutional video
was also broadcast
where different referents highlighted the importance of this plan, for the benefit of national production and the generation of employment in the audiovisual industry, such as Echarri, Alejandra Darín, Diego Guebel (camera producers Capit) and Marcelo Tinelli, among others.
"What touches us"
Alberto Fernández said that he spoke not so much "in his institutional role", but more "as a consumer of content."
In that sense, he recalled films such as Plata Dulce, Camila and La Historia Oficial.
He mentioned musicians like Gustavo Santaolalla, who put music to two Oscar-winning films.
He said that he had spoken with Adrián Suar about how to improve the industry;
and mentioned the general secretary of the SATSAID union.
In addition, Fernández said that he spoke with Marcelo Tinelli (connected by Zoom to the act) about the program that will soon be on the air again on television.
And he said that when he began to record the opening for his program, "of 40 workers that he sent for testing, 11 were infected."
"It is the time that touches us", raised.
"Now, that in the time that we have to do, we are able to think about the future, as we are thinking now, it is very auspicious, because the crisis does not stop us, nothing stops us; and it drives us to achieve what we want the most, which is
that our actors and our actresses return to work fully.
"We have to be able to fill the Argentine screens with Argentine content. To refill the marquees of our cinemas, which I hope will soon begin to function fully,
with Argentine titles.
We have to do it and we can do it by agreeing, seeing
what each one can contribute
, "concluded Fernández.
Previously,
the opening ceremony
was in charge of the secretary "Pancho" Meritello, who presented the different sectors that participated in this plan to produce more Argentine audiovisual content. And he told how it was that,
for eight months
, they were moving forward to reach this agreement. He mentioned the executives of different companies that were present on the four screens that were placed on the sides of the Bicentennial Museum, as well as the officials, union members and members of the CES.
Meritello also highlighted the creation of a
Fund to subsidize national content,
managed by the state-owned company Contenidos Públicos. And he presented the officials Cardoso and Apólito, who gave details about the production and export plan for the audiovisual content industry. The plan "shows the State connected between its different areas, working with a goal, and the private sector and the workers accompanying them," said Meritello.
The act was in the framework of the meetings and agreements of the CES, led by Gustavo Beliz, who stood close to the President and said that this agreement is “a
magnificent image of what the reconstruction of our country should be
.
We hope that it will be the first step of many that are taken, so that national production in these sectors can return ”, concluded Beliz.
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