27/07/2011

July 1 marked an important step in the development of Swiss cinema with the creation of the Swiss-French Film Foundation. Bringing together most of the state funding earmarked for French-language Swiss films, this new institution will have to manage an annual budget of 10m Swiss Francs (about €8.6m). This represents an increase of about 40% compared to the amounts hitherto allocated to film production by the Swiss-French districts.

After more than three years of considerations, general interest thus prevailed. Politicians and professionals came to an agreement on the essential points: Swiss-French cinema must be strengthened and have a strong regional organisation. The Foundation’s main aim is thus to more effectively support Francophone audiovisual creation and production, whose district-level financing structures had started to look outmoded since the creation, in 2004, of the Zurich Film Foundation which immediately became the preferred partner for German-language films.

One of the main challenges for the Foundation is helping Swiss-French film creation to get beyond its regional borders. For some observers, this is a question of survival: given the small size of the Francophone market (only six districts out of 23 speak French), it remains essential that producers and directors from this region are able to initiate national and international co-productions – in particular with France, Belgium and Luxembourg. The increase in subsidies for Swiss-French films and the creation of a funding system offering greater autonomy to producers could prove decisive in this respect.

The Swiss-French Film Foundation’s headquarters is in Geneva – the biggest contributor to the institution with 5m Swiss Francs (€4.3m) doled out annually. From January 1, 2012, it will be headed by a secretary-general, a position for which competitive entry is open until July 31.