2017 registered an extremely positive trend for cinema and audiovisuals made in Puglia.
Forty-three projects were financed, more than double compared to the previous year, for a total funding of € 4,109,043 that it is expected will generate direct expenditure in the region of € 11.6 million.
The beneficiary productions estimate that 695 working days were involved with an increase of 43%, whereas 1,168 workers resident in Puglia were employed on the sets – an increase of 89% compared to 2016.

Exciting figures which could, however, seem episodic if they were not compared with the historic trend that shows essentially constant growth since the Apulia Film Commission [AFC] was set up in 2007.

The study by Acume, which was commissioned to carry out the research, looked at nine years, from 2007 to 2015, starting with the lever of financial support that, in the last two years (2014-2015), focused on the activities of three Funds: the Apulia Film Fund, the Apulia Regional Film Fund and the Apulia Promotion Film Fund.
269 productions were supported in the years examined (93 feature films, 7 television films, 20 TV series, 83 documentaries, 56 short films), and logistical support was provided to 96 projects.

The productions filmed in the region for a total of 3,720 days (more than half in the last 3 years), and it was TV series that guaranteed the most continuity. The locations were distributed all over the Puglia region (180 municipalities were involved, with Bari in the lead followed by Lecce, Brindisi, Foggia and Taranto).
Over the nine years productions have been attracted with an overall budget of € 270 million and which spent € 46 million in the region against financing amounting to € 11 million, with a ratio of 1:5.
The amount doubles to € 90 million with the multiplying effect of 1:2, also considering the induced impact on the local economy.

The activities of the AFC are moving according to the strategic indications outlined by the research: strengthening of the measures for growing local companies and professional skills, attracting the more profitable formats like TV series, activating development funds, training the public, investing in international networks.