Costa Rica’s famous mantra ‘pura vida’ — a reflection of optimism and positivity among the people — extends to its film sector. After waiting more than a year, the introduction of tax incentives by the government to help attract international productions to the country is proof positive that a buoyant attitude is rewarded.

In December 2021, Costa Rica enacted the film investment attraction law, which aims to promote investment in and development of international film productions, co-productions and activities. It is looking to be available by year end 2022.

“We are sure the package of incentives, including an 11.7% return on all budget lines invested in Costa Rica without a cap, will accelerate the growth of the audiovisual service industry in our country,” says Costa Rica, film commissioner Jose Castro. “Costa Rica has shown constant growth in the past five years without any such incentive, so with one we are confident it can only increase the number of productions and grow our film and TV sector.”

The new incentives, regulations and procedures have been open to applications from May 2022. No actor, director or producer working on an international production in Costa Rica will be subject to tax of any kind while employed in the country. The plans were finalised and enacted as Costa Rica found itself hit hard by Covid-19 in 2020.

International productions decreased by 95% at the start of the pandemic, but the territory moved swiftly to put in place safe protocols to allow local production companies to continue filming. National Geographic, Amazon, Hulu, Discovery Channel, Netflix, HBO and Disney have all shot in Costa Rica as well as television programming for the BBC, PBC, NBC and CBC. “As soon as our borders opened in mid-2020, we had a lot of projects coming in and that has been the dynamic ever since,” says Castro.

Nathalie Alvarez Mesen’s magical realist drama Clara Sola is set in a remote area of the country. It dominated the 2021 Swedish Film Awards, known as the Guldbagges, picking up five prizes including best picture and best director.

Other recent projects include Todd Robinson’s The Last Full Measure starring Sebastian Stan; Amazon’s reality adventure series The Pack; and Netflix’s reality show Restaurants On The Edge.