Tax credit, checks on 200 works for 350 million. Giuli: 'No more ghost films and abuses, new phase for cinema'

"Denouncing malfeasance is not at odds with the enhancement of cinema, on the contrary: it is the best way to respect those who work with commitment, passion and fairness. We are at a new phase for Italian cinema and public support must reward quality and protect talent, not fall prey to abuse'. Thus the Minister of Culture, Alessandro Giuli, during the Senate briefing.

The new rules in force as of 2024 tighten cost controls, introduce stronger penalties for auditors and set stricter criteria for accessing the tax credit, including: the obligation to finance at least 40% of the work; contractual constraints with distributors or platforms; the obligation to reinvest in difficult works (young authors, low-budget films); and caps on the tax credit: 9 million per work, up to 18 for foreign co-productions.

"The chronicle delivers us cases of abuses, grey areas and sometimes fraud linked to the world of film production. The ministry has undertaken a structural reform of the implementing decrees of Law 220/2016 to correct distortions, waste and fraud, intensifying checks by introducing, among other things, a ban on cascade subcontracting; the obligation of financial traceability; the delivery of the work for international production, providing the allocation of €3.5 million for new inspections and activating an enhanced collaboration with the Guardia di Finanza through a special operational protocol," the minister explains. During the briefing, Giuli announced that the General Directorate for Cinema is currently working on 200 dossiers for checks on 350 million euro in credit, in operational continuity even after the recent resignation of the director general, while the call for his successor is imminent..

The minister also recalled the meetings held on 6 June and 21 July with actors and operators in the sector, aimed at a constructive discussion on the current reforms. The film community expressed its appreciation for the new tax credit regulations and the opening of thematic round tables planned for September.

According to Cinetel data (updated on 22 July), box office in 2025 is up by 4% compared to the same period in 2024, while admissions are growing by 2%. In the period from the beginning of the year to June, the growth of the share linked to Italian cinema is noteworthy: it went from 21.4% in 2023 to 23.5% last year, reaching 31.9% in 2025. Among the most viewed films among those released in cinemas in recent months, three out of five are Italian. "Thanks to the issuing of a ministerial decree, the "Plan for the enhancement of the cinema and multi-purpose cinema circuit" has been made operational, which provides for the allocation of over 68 million euros, including residuals, for the two-year period 2024-2025, for the construction of new cinemas, with renovation and adaptation of existing ones". Not only. "Among the measures envisaged by the decree, I also want to highlight the construction of new halls at public or private hospital and socio-medical facilities. It is an intervention that confirms what we have always maintained, namely that access to the cinema, and more generally to art, has a beneficial power on people. And on this front we are also working on a memorandum of understanding between public institutions, the world of research and the health sector to seal the link between science and culture',