24/10/2002 - Over Euros 478 million earmarked for 2003 and France’s film heritage will be preserved for posterity

The National Cinema Centre's (CNC) budget for 2003 stands at over Euros 478 million. Speaking at yesterday’s official presentation, David Kessler, the director-general of the CNC said that next year’s budget will benefit from a small increase in takings during 2002 (188 million tickets sold with respect to 186 million in 2001), as well as from more advertising investment in the audiovisual sector.
The CNC is French cinema’s principle source of funding and it benefits from a Euros 29 million credit line from the Ministry for Culture and, more especially, from a 3.75 per cent increase in the film and audiovisual support fund whose 2002 total stands at over Euros 449 million. This fund is fed by three taxes: Euros 106 million come from a tax levied on cinema ticket sales, Euros 322 million from television and Euros 18 million from videocassette exploitation.
This is a difficult time for film production because of the problems in sourcing funds, and so it is especially important that the CNC maintain its role with determination: Euros 146 million have been earmarked for automatic support and a further Euros 83 million for selective support.
The clause that addresses France’s film heritage is safe: over Euros 5 million were earmarked for restoring old films and Euros 3.5 million will go to French film Archives.

(Translated from French)