18/10/2012 - The Dijon-based ARP-organised event is to host high level exchange and discussions on the industry’s greatest concerns of the moment

Now presided over by Oscar-winning director Michel Hazanavicius and with the two directors of The Intouchables [+see also:
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film profile] (Eric Tolédano and Olivier Nakache) among its vice presidents, the Civil Society of Writers-Directors-Producers (ARP) has concocted quite a programme for the 22th edition of its Film Meetings that kick off today in Dijon. The edition has been baptised "Cultural Exception 2.0" and is to be held in the highly-charged climate of ongoing negotiations between France and the European Commission about the former’s Tax on Television Services (read more).

For three days, the 600 professionals taking part in the event, this year presided over by filmmaker Robert Guédiguian (photo), are to debate the European industry’s greatest concerns of the moment: the place of VoD platforms, the defence of cultural exception in the new digital era, threats to independent cinema (access to cinemas and funding concentration in production – read the interview with Jean-Paul Salomé), the survival of private copies with the advent of "clouds".

Among the very numerous personalities to attend, the following stand out: French culture minister Aurélie Filipetti, Eric Garandeau (president of the National Film and Moving Image Centre (CNC)), his counterpart Henrik Bo Nielsen (Danish Film Institute), Rodolphe Belmer and Manuel Alduy (respectively, managing director and head of cinema at Canal+), Rémy Pfilmlin (president of France Télévisions), Aviva Silver (managing director of the MEDIA Programme), Régine Hatchondo (managing director of Unifrance), Alain Sussfeld (managing director of UGC), Spanish filmmaker Fernando Trueba, and Katerina Evanglakou (president of the Hellenic Film Academy).

Producers to attend include Thomas Langmann (La Petite Reine), Rebecca O’Brien (Sixteen Films), Marc Missonnier (Fidélité Films), Edouard Weil (Rectangle Productions), Patrick Sobelman (Agat Films), David Thion (Les Films Pelléas), Alain Rocca (Lazennec), Patrick Quinet (Artémis), Marie Masmonteil (Elzévir), Antoine Rein (Delante Films), as well as producers from Stone Angels, Tabo Tabo Films, Mezzanine Films, and Dharamsala. And there will be distributors, including Carole Scotta (Haut et Court), Renaud Davy (ARP Sélection), Etienne OIlagnier (Jour2fête), and Ad Vitam. Also worth noting is the expected presence of Vincent Grimond and Brahim Chioua (president and managing director of Wild Bunch), as well as representatives of Gaumont and Pathé.

The Film Meetings are also to welcome politicians specialised in culture, all heads of cinema for the big French television channels, members of the technical industries, VoD operators and aggregators, main exhibitors, funding experts, as well as many filmmakers like Valérie Donzelli, Brigitte Roüan, Costa Gavras, Christan Vincent, Radu Mihaileanu, Claude Lelouch, Frédéric Sojcher, and Jan Kounen.

(Translated from French)