01/06/2007

Cineuropa: Arthouse cinemas are facing increasing competition from the commercial circuit market share and suffering from the wide-scale release strategy. How are cinemas reacting to this new environment?
Pierre Todeschini : Indeed, one of the main problems that affects almost all arthouse cinemas, in every European country, is the difficulty of programming. On the one hand, mainstream films have wide-scale releases, while on the other hand, auteur arthouse films with commercial potential today are now being screened by multiplexes, which have to cast a wider net to meet the needs of a consumption model based on the rapid rotation of titles. In the end, “quality films’’, or 90% of European films, disappear after a few weeks, or even a few days, because without any cultural support, there can be no word of mouth.
The reaction of independent cinemas is diversified depending on the country: in countries where arthouse networks are structured, it takes place by a network (collective promotional actions, circulation of prints); in countries where they are isolated, an ever more creative “zero euro marketing’’ and – at times desperate – strategy is used or the ever increasing number of events and festivals have to fight a lone battle to attract the audience’s attention.
Everywhere the indicators are showing a rise in the concentration (of some titles, some distributors, some circuits), which has been alleviated, albeit in too few countries, by policies that support collective initiatives by cinemas.

What role should institutions play to guarantee the existence of arthouse networks and the cultural diversity that goes with it?
Effective actions in favour of diversity and quality have been clearly identified for a long time, but they are applied in very few countries:
- regulation of competition in order to organise the development of multiplexes
- financial support for the independent sector
- improvement of programmes available: in small countries, there is a widespread problem due to the weakness of distributors and the overly high fixed costs they face (subtitles, prints, dubbing, MG).
The policies are not necessarily expensive. They can very often be self-financed by the sector itself, like in Norway, where DVD sales and rental (whose market share is two or three greater than cinemas) are taxed.
Some figures deserve a second look: 90% of public funds invested in Europe to promote theatres are by three countries and MEDIA. Support for exhibition and distribution represents not even 10% of European public audiovisual funds.
Europe exists and the MEDIA Programme has changed many things, but it is becoming urgent that each State does their own share of work to support the exhibition and distribution of quality cinema. The club of European CNCs is without question the chosen player to bring about this indispensable awareness and change.