The Irish Film Board is to open a Los Angeles office in September as part of its policy of supporting and attracting inward production to Ireland, Minister for Arts John O'Donoghue announced at the 59th Cannes Film Festival last night.
The office will be run on a permanent basis by a staff member with the task of developing and strengthening the relationship between the Irish and US film industries.
The Minister was speaking at the opening of the Irish Pavilion, a joint venture between the Irish Film Board and the Northern Ireland Film Commission, and the key point of contact between the 200-plus Irish delegates at the Cannes festival and international producers and financiers.
"We have a sophisticated and well developed approach to supports for the industry," Mr O'Donoghue said, describing the section 481 tax incentive scheme as being "at the very cutting edge of thinking in this area".
"The Government has done a great deal to enhance the scheme, and very recently approved the most dramatic enhancement ever, with the amount that can be raised increasing from €15 million to €35 million, and with 80 per cent of project budgets now capable of being raised instead of the former limit of between 55 and 60 per cent."
Mr O'Donoghue said that the European Commission had approved these changes.
Earlier Mr O'Donoghue told The Irish Times that Minister for Finance Brian Cowen deserved credit for enabling these changes in the section 481 scheme.
"He has shown a great interest in the film industry," he said, "and in fairness to him, Brian Cowen has done more for it than any previous minister for finance."
Mr O'Donoghue said he was aware that Britain had become more competitive with its film production incentive schemes, "but we can't become forever embroiled in a Dutch auction with the British in relation to this.
"It might be necessary for us to have closer discussion with the British government in relation to where the two industries want to go for the future."
He said co-productions between Ireland and Britain had traditionally resulted in mutually beneficial results.
It was possible, however, that Mr Cowen might have to sit down with British chancellor of the exchequer Gordon Brown and discuss how best to move forward "from a mutually beneficial position as opposed to a unilateral position, which, competitive though it may be, is not to the advantage of the film industries in either country".
"If we can get over that problem, I think the garden was never as rosy," he added.
Mr O'Donoghue noted that a 10-part US TV series, The Tudors, starring Golden Globe-winning Irish actor Jonathan Rhys Meyers as the young Henry VIII, starts shooting in Ireland tomorrow for the next 20 weeks.
He said it was fitting that Ireland had a high profile at Cannes, "which is at the centre of the global film industry", with Ken Loach's War of Independence drama, The Wind That Shakes the Barley, one of 20 films from all over the world selected to compete for the festival's major award, the Palme d'Or.
The Minister, who attended the film's world premiere at Cannes last Thursday night, described it as "a tremendous production", and said he was "very proud of the calibre of the Irish stars of this film". He noted that the Irish Film Board supported the project from the outset. "Of course, the leaders of Fine Gael won't like it," he added, "but what can we do about that?"