31/08/2003 - "Co-distribution and new technology is the way ahead for a truly European film industry." Culture minister, Giuliano Urbani, speaking after the 25 EU member-state meeting

Giuliano Urbani: video interview

Co-distribution and new technology. That is the way ahead for a truly European film industry. That is the conclusion of the Venetian meeting about the circulation of European films that saw the participation of all 25 EU member-state ministers for culture, the meeting was opened up to include the representatives of the ten countries scheduled to join the EU officially in April 2004.
The meeting ended with the presentation of a final report to EU Cultural Affairs Commissioner, Viviane Reding, in the hope that legislation to implement the plans is drafted and approved as soon as possible.
“Everyone agreed that the issue of insufficient circulation of our films outside of their respective countries of origin was central to this meeting and open to some major intervention,” said the host of this important meeting, Italy’s minister for cultural affairs, Giuliano Urbani at today’s press conference. “Market shares are still far too small and only one third of all films produced in Europe is distributed in other European territories. The situation is even worse as far as television is concerned: the current quota is 24%. Box office takes are frankly disappointing, and vary from between 5% and 8%. Too low. Less than 1% of the films released manage to get distribution in half of the European Union, i.e., we’re talking about just over seven territories. Just six countries make up this quota. The films in question are all by well-established directors and each is worthy and up to an international release.”
The Minister went on to say that in reality “the season has been a rich one from the creative point of view. So, we can safely say that quality is most definitely a criterion here. Our goal is to facilitate international co-operation in every way possible. Only a very few distributors operate in more than seven countries. We would like to encourage more efficient and closer co-operation and not only from the purely financial point of view – that, we believe, is not the most efficient instrument at our disposal. The key is networking: individual entities working together. We want to see both a stable network for co-production and a tried-and-true network of co-distribution agreements. Both these things could contribute to guaranteeing domestic productions the access they need to the European market. That is a target that they are not reaching at the present time.”
Simultaneous investment in new technology, especially with regards to distribution and screening, can only help this strategy. If this strategy can gain the constant support of the European Union and is not left entirely to individual exhibitors or distributors, it may well lead to cheaper trans-national film circulation in the future, and encourage co-distribution deals.

(Translated from Italian)