28/11/2013 - The German French Film Meeting in Nancy brought good news to the European film industry

Peter Dinges (FFA), Frédérique Bredin (CNC) and Alfred Hürmer (German-French Film Meeting president)

According to the recent decision by the European Court of Justice, the telcos that distribute films via the Internet are chargeable. “This is very good news for the film industry,” emphasizes Frédérique Bredin, president of the CNC, at the German-French Film Meeting in Nancy. “From now on every country in the European Union can tax the telcos that make profits.” Further subjects at the two-day event that brought together 230 industry representatives were the cooperation between the European regions of Saarland, Lothringen, Luxembourg and Belgium, the relationship between feature films and public television, and the Cinema Communication.

“The close cooperation in 'La Grande Region' Saar – Lor – Lux is not just a political idea but practically proven. The people already crossed the political borders,” states Peter Dinges, Chairman of German Federal Film Board. “The question is whether films can do that too.” Each of these European regions have their own film funding schemes which are working together well as the producers Christoph Menardi from Neos Film in Germany and Bernard Michaux from Lucil Films in Luxembourg pointed out. “The German Federal Film Fund and the CIAV in Luxembourg that provides tax incentives don't exclude each other,” explains Menardi who worked with both institutions in order to finance the family entertainment film Schatzritter [+see also:
trailer
film profile] as a coproduction between Germany and Luxembourg. “As a German producer I even get bonus points for the scheme in Luxembourg.”

Meanwhile in Lothringen only French producers can apply for production support. “We have an agreement with the CNC,” reports Bertrand Masson who represents the Lothringen region where the funding budget has been raised by 30 percent to € 1.1m. “We are poor but creative and helpful,” underlines Gerd Bauer, Head of the film fund in Saarland who welcomes the idea to jointly support projects in the “Grande Region.” According to André Sommerlatte from the ministry of the German-speaking community in Belgium, the tax shelter is an essential element. “In 2014, 200 M€ will be generated by private investors,” says Sommerlatte. “The collaboration is not just about money. Luxembourg is opening its doors and accepts the effects,” emphasizes Kain Schockweiler, Head of Filmfund Luxembourg. “It is a bit more Europe,” sums up Dinges.

A hot topic for film distributors and producers was that it is getting more and more difficult to sell art house films to TV. “The public TV stations ZDF and ARD/ Degeto bought less and less films in the last three years,” states the distributor Marc Gabizon, CEO of Wild Bunch Germany. “The situation is becoming dangerous for all art house cinemas and distributors. If the TV stations are giving up their slots for art house movies, they also renounce the cultural variety.” Daniel Goudineau, General Manager from France 3 Cinema posed that the Franco-Belgian film Séraphine [+see also:
trailer
film profile] could not have been produced without the participation of France 3. Despite three awards and 700,000 cinemagoers other TV stations showed no interest in the film but at France 3 Séraphine achieved with 13.8 percent the top quota in the prime time. “With the creation of special slots we serve the needs of the audience,” remarks Goudineau. “Canal + has been forced by law 30 years ago to fulfil certain requirements.”

“We have to educate the TV audience,” adds Alfred Hürmer, President of the German French Film Meeting. Sophisticated films are shown in Germany only by regional public stations. “In Germany 20,000 movies are released per year which means 55 films per day, but 95 percent of the money is spent in the U.S. where the TV stations are buying big packages,” says Hürmer. “The European market is only for the Americans,” concludes Goudineau.

Another big threat for the European film industry is the new Cinema Communication. “Thanks to the solidarity of the EFAD members we were able to fight the ideas from Brussels,” underlines Frédérique Bredin. “It’s a relief when the pain stops,” adds Dinges. “Without any public funding we would not have any cultural variety anymore. We made it quite clear that cultural variety comes first – before the common market.”