Film Industry in Georgia

Georgia has a long history and rich tradition in film production and post-production. Less than a year after the first commercial public screening of a cinematographic film of Lumiere brothers occurred in Paris on December 28, 1895, Tbilisi hosted its first public screening on November 16, 1896. The Georgian film industry enjoyed robust growth and active film production throughout the majority of the 20th century, and numerous Georgian filmmakers were awarded prizes in international competitions.

Recent developments indicate positive trends within the industry and growth opportunities for firms engaged in production and post-production services, including:

In 2016, the GoG’s Enterprise Georgia introduced a Cash Rebate Program, which began in January 2016, for feature film production in Georgia, which offers a 20% rebate of qualifying expenses and an additional 2-5% for including Georgian elements to film producers. The incentive has already attracted 10 productions, out of which 9 have been completed, 1 film is still in the production stage. The accumulated spending of all of these productions has amounted to more than GEL 17,000,000 and 1,850 local stuff employed.
On February 24, 2015, Georgia joined the “Creative Europe Programme” in Brussels, making it the 1st Eastern Partnership country to join the program after hosting an Eastern Partnership Ministerial Conference in Tbilisi in 2013.
Through the recently implemented EU initiative “Digital Single Market”, Georgian filmmakers can access larger audiences, which can also stimulate an increased demand for both productions and post-production services.