24/10/2013 - Minister, President of the CNC, managers from Wild Bunch, UGC, Canal+, TF1 and other tenors: conflicting opinions at the Cinematographic Encounters

As the French cinematographic industry just came out of a long psychodrama surrounding the negotiations about the new collective convention (read the article) with exemptions (for 5 years) for films budgeted under 3 M€ and a standstill for features budgeted under 1M€, professionals head today for the 23^rd Cinematographic Encounters organised by the ARP (civil society of Authors-Directors-Producers) in Dijon from October 24-26. The event won’t be lacking in crucial debates and high-level speakers (read the article and the interview of the ARP’s general delegate, Florence Gastaud).

Amongst the discussed topics, the debate over the transparency and profitability of films is particularly anticipated, in a context in which Canal+, the n°1 financier for French cinema, will see its VAT increase next year from 7% to 10%. The ARP established groundwork for the exchange: “Many distributors regret that producers don’t share enough of the risk. Many producers regret that distributors don’t share enough of their profit. Is the logic of pre-funding itself in need of rethinking? Can the French market absorb on its own, other than by exception, increasing production budgets? Can the foreign market compensate this tendency?” These questions will be discussed by Vincent Grimond (President of Wild Bunch), Alain Sussfeld (General director of UGC) and Laurent Vallet (General director of the IFCIC – Institute for the Funding of Cinema and Cultural Industries) with a conclusion by René Bonnell (in charge of the yet mysterious report on the profitability of French films).

Another fascinating theme, also linked to funding, will be the question of the diversity and emergence of new talents. Filmmaker Pierre Schoeller (The Minister [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Pierre Schoeller
film profile]) and producers Anne-Dominique Toussaint (Les Films des Tournelles), Julie Gayet (Rouge International) and Gilles Sacuto (TS Productions) will be debating, only two weeks after the publication in the daily newspaper Le Monde of an open letter signed by over forty producers bringing to the attention of public authorities the serious threats to the existence of first movies and author films budgeted at less than 2 M€.

It is worth noting that the reform ideas for the cinematographic system and European questions will also be discussed in a debate notably including Aurélie Filippetti (Minister of Culture and Communication), Frédérique Bredin (President of the CNC), Rodolphe Belmer (General director of Canal+), Nonce Paolini (President General director of TF1), Rémy Pflimlin (President of France Télévisions), Richard Patry (President of the National Federation of French Cinemas) and Patrick Quinet from Belgium (President of the Union of Francophone Film Producers), as well as Pierre Lescure, exceptional President of this edition of the Dijon Encounters.  

(Translated from French)