21/10/2010

Laurent Steiert has been appointed acting head of the Film Section at the Swiss Federal Office for Culture (OFC). He replaces Nicolas Bideau, who is about to take over as head of the organisation Presence Switzerland, which is part of the Federal Department of Foreign Affairs and is in charge of promoting Switzerland’s image abroad.

Responsible for overseeing the management transition period at the Film Section, Steiert is well-known in the sector. He was Bideau’s direct deputy and managed Cinema Success, a system of automatic funding awarded on the basis of domestic box office results achieved by Swiss productions and co-productions.

This change of head comes at a time of repeated tensions between several Swiss professional film associations and Bideau. These tensions have led, in particular, to the postponement of an important reform in federal film funding (Support Regimes) and the appointment of Marc Wehrlin as “facilitator” to restore trust between the OFC and professionals. Furthermore, Didier Burkhalter has announced that he will only open competitive applications for the “Mr Cinema” job once the Support Regimes 2012-2015 have been put in place.

Several important matters await Steiert. The most urgent among them is certainly Swiss movie theatres’ transition to digital. In the absence of a funding policy from the cantonal and federal authorities, observers of the exhibition sector predict that many independent theatres will close.

Long considered a secondary issue, the process of providing digital projectors in theatres which guarantee the diversity of films on offer has become a burning question with the success of 3D films. They have brought in their wake a speeding-up of digitisation highlighting the disparities between exhibitors and the potential damage that such an imbalance could inflict on the most fragile film industries – starting with Swiss cinema. Aware of this problem, Steiert has already said he would make it one of his priorities.

(Translated from French)