A state lawmaker is questioning a Minnesota film rebate program that benefited a new documentary about state Rep. Ilhan Omar of Minneapolis, a Democratic candidate for Congress.
Rep. Marion O'Neill, R-Maple Lake, said Thursday that she submitted a data request to the Minnesota Film and Television board seeking information about a 20 percent "Snowbate" incentive received by the producers of the documentary "Time For Ilhan."
O'Neill said the rebate is expected to offset $11,852 of expenses associated with the film, which has played at multiple film festivals and is now playing at the Walker Art Center in Minneapolis. She said she filed a state Data Practices Act request Thursday after recently seeing receipts associated with the rebate.
The film's producers successfully applied for the rebate in March 2017 and were awarded the maximum reimbursement afforded to documentaries filmed in the state.
On Thursday, O'Neill questioned the state's approval of funds for what she called a "promotional film" about a sitting state lawmaker who has a vote on the rebate program's funding and who is also now running for a U.S. House seat.
"I don't have issues with Rep. Omar — I don't think she had much control over what happened," O'Neill said in an interview Thursday. "I have issues with how the tax dollars are being used."
Minneapolis filmmaker Norah Shapiro, who directed and produced the documentary, said Thursday that her production team was "fully transparent" with the film and TV board. "We stand by our film, which was completely and artistically independent of Rep. Omar, and we have nothing to hide," she said.
The 82-minute documentary followed Omar's 2016 rise to become the nation's first Somali-American member of a state legislature.