Call from the cinema industry: 'If things remain like this, we will have to stop'
- The reduction by over €20 million in public funding for the cinema industry has led to it announcing all the sector’s activities coming to a grinding halt
"Cinema is coming to a halt. This is the reality awaiting the new ministry for cultural goods and activities to whom all the sector’s associations are asking an immediate intervention, renewing the alarm bell and worry.”
A letter has been addressed to the nascent government, signed by representatives from the industry, by authors, critics, journalists, festivals and workers from the sector. It explains that “the reduction by over €20 million (over 20%) in terms of the public funds made available to the entire cinema industry, marks the inevitable stop to all the sector’s activities: from production to distribution, from practice to promotion, with extremely bad consequences on the jobs of thousands of workers.”
“Even in the dramatic context of the general financial crisis, associations from the sector think there are non deferrable solutions to avoid the paralysis of every single part of cinema. Because of this, the ministry will be receiving an articulated description of the emergencies.”
“The re-dimensioning of resources makes the public support, something given in countries across Europe, vanish. This is happening precisely in a moment in which, despite everything, Italian cinema is gaining new and important recognition abroad, and is preparing for international attention during the Cannes Film Festival.”
“The new ministry has concretely demonstrated a political will to intervene with an immediate reversal of tendencies, reintegrating the cuts for instance, which will be obtained from the sale of television frequencies. This would be a first concrete step of reimbursement, getting funds from those using audiovisual elements without reinvesting in production.”
AFIC –Association of Italian Festivals
ANAC
100 Authors
ANEC
ANICA – Producer section
Unitary secretary SLC CGIL, Fistel CISL, Uilcom UIL
SNCCI
SNGCI
(Translated from Italian)
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