The Korean Film Council (KOFIC) unveiled its new location shooting and post-production incentives at a seminar at the AFM on Friday.

Foreign feature films shooting in Korea with a local co-producer or production services company will be eligible for a 20% cash rebate on qualifying Korean spend. In order to qualify, each project must spend a minimum of $4.2m in Korea and there will be cap on each project of $2.5m.

KOFIC also unveiled a 20% cash rebate for productions that spend at least $1m with a Korean post-production facility.

The programme is currently going through the final stages of approval in Korea’s National Assembly and is expected to become active next year.

Korea also has 11 regional film commissions each of which have their own cash and service incentives. Seoul Film Commission offers a 25% cash rebate on spend in the city up to a cap of $90,000 per project. The cap can be removed in some cases, such as when more than 50% of the film is shot in Seoul. 

Meanwhile, Busan Film Commission, located in Korea’s second biggest city, offers a 30% rebate with a cap of $1m. Both the Seoul and Busan incentives can be combined with the federal programme.

Korea has a technologically advanced production industry and English-speaking heads of department, but to date has not attracted a large volume of foreign shoots. However it has started to attract productions from the rest of Asia - Thai romantic comedy Hello Stranger was recently awarded production support of $66,000 from the Seoul Film Commission.

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