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FUNDING France

Canal+ precises...

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- The head of French film acquisitions replies to charges that they've dropped their guard

The encrypted television channel, Canal+, French cinema’s principle source of funding, was recently subjected to a wave of criticism from anxious producers. In an interview with French weekly, ‘Le Film Français’, Nathalie Bloch-Laine, head of French film acquisitions at Canal+, defended the channel’s policies.
Of the Euros 136 million Canal+ is obliged to invest in original French-language productions during 2002, they have already bought 156 films, 105 of which premieres, for a total of Euros 133 million. The titles included a packet of 81 features, each made with a budget of Euros 5.34 million or less (the limit of the so-called « diversity clause »), for a total of Euros 65 million.
In answer to the CNC's objection that Canal+ had only funded 65 per cent of French film production in 2001, compared to 70 per cent in 2000 and 80 per cent in 1999, Nathalie Bloch underlined that the channel she works for was not responsible for the increase in the number of films produced, a condition that automatically called for greater selectivity when buying films. Furthermore Bloch added that the three biggest buys of the year were made by producers who are not part of the Canal+ Group, and namely, Les Tourtereaux by Francis Veber – produced by UGC, Bon Voyage by Jean-Paul Rappeneau – produced by ARP and Effroyables Jardins by Jean Becker and produced by ICE3.

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(Translated from French)

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