Skopje, 23 July 2024 (MIA) – Minister of Culture and Tourism Zoran Ljutkov in an interview with MIA has revealed that the auditor’s reports and the Culture Ministry’s report about the Film Agency have been finished before being sent to the relevant institutions. The Culture Ministry conducted an internal audit of the Film Agency in April and May. Recently, Ljutkov said that the Film Agency owned about 11 million euros. 

“The problem arose after 2018 when the annual budget of some seven-eight million euros was suddenly slashed to about 2,5 million euros. And since they couldn’t accept the fact that the government had cut the budget, they kept pursuing a process that looked like this: ‘you conclude deals for double the funds although no funds are secured for next year.’ This means – if you have a deal for 2,5 million euros for next year, you have a deal for almost five million and you will be dragging them over the years,” Ljutkov stated. 

Now, he said, there is a situation in which deals had been concluded for four films that now have a five-year legal deadline to be completed, but this deadline is expiring this year. 

“The Film Agency doesn’t have the money to finance these four films. This is what has been happening over the years. The auditor’s reports are finished, the Culture Ministry also completed a report this year. The reports will be sent to the relevant institutions to do their part of the job and to see what comes next. As a minister of culture I don’t take sides in this process, I care for the Film Agency. My focus will be on the Agency and we’ll do our best to solve the problems,” added Ljutkov. 

The Minister announced this coming Friday he will meet with officials of the Association of Film Professionals.

“A meeting is scheduled on Friday, but it cannot result in any changes. Their demand [for a meeting] is a logical request and to meet with them is a logical response, however I don’t focus on the Association of Film Professionals. The report solely focused on the Film Agency, and this is what matters to me. But, if irregularities are detected in the Film Agency as a relation to the Association of Film Professionals, it will be a consequence in itself and there is nothing I can do here,” said Ljutkov. 

MIA’s full video interview with Culture Minister Zoran Ljutkov will be published Wednesday. 

Photo: MIA