European industry takes first step towards creating digitisation model
The European film industry is facing one of the greatest challenges in its history, the digitisation of theatres, a process in which there is no going back, for “the advantages and necessity of this change have already been understood and approved by the entire sector”.
This is one of the conclusions reached at the international conference “The independent film exhibition sector and the challenges of digitisation”, held in Barcelona from March 4-6. It brought together the highest authorities on film in the EU and representatives from the film distribution and exhibition sectors.
The risks entailed if this process is not carried out properly and the powerful public and private interests at stake highlight the need to quickly draw up a course of action that is approved by everyone. ICAA director Ignasi Guardans spoke to Cineuropa a few weeks ago (see interview) and insisted on the urgent need for a dialogue that offers solutions to this necessity. The conference held in Barcelona, organised by the ICAA and MEDIA Programme, is just a first step in this direction, for, as the event’s final conclusion points out, “the dialogue needs to continue”.
The discussions led by the 20 panellists and 200 professionals in attendance maintained that the cost of digitisation cannot fall on the exhibition sector alone. It is therefore essential, on the one hand, to have a financial intermediary between distributors (who save money) and exhibitors and, on the other hand, public intervention that is normative, administrative and in some cases financial in order to “guarantee transparency, limit the risks of insolvency and create a fair situation for everyone”.
However, even though “the introduction of European guidelines would be useful”, there is no plan to create a single model, since each European state will have to adapt it to their own reality, depending on “their technical and financial needs”.
Participants included Aviva Silver (head of the MEDIA Programme), Claude-Eric Poiroux (director of Europa Cinemas), Dave Monk (CEO of European Digital Cinema Forum), Joe Hart (vice-chairman of Technicolor Digital Cinema) and Patrick Vanhoudt (senior economist at the European Investment Bank), among others.
To download the conference conclusions: Spanish Version - English Version
(Translated from Spanish)
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