Operation “black screen”
The protest of French entertainment workers is gaining momentum. Today the actors, directors, producers and technical staff that make up the July Meeting called for an all-out stop to screenings after the culture minister Jean-Jacques Aillagon’s fallimentary attempt to pour oil on troubled waters.
Leading industry lights like Humbert Balsam (Ognon Pictures), Gilles Sandoz (Maïa Films), Carole Scotta and Caroline Benjo of Haut et Court and many other Gallic producers are determined to defend industry workers’ social security benefits. They are the latest in a long list of 1109 artists who signed a manifesto denouncing the dangers faced by the French film industry’s over-dependance on TV funding, especially after the decision by Canal Plus’s to cut film production funding dramatically.
The manifesto bears the signatures of Daniel Auteuil, Ariane Ascaride, Jacques Audiard, Jean-Pierre Bacri, Jean-Jacques Beneix, Laurent Cantet, Jean-Pierre Darroussin, Claude Duty, Robert Guédiguian, Cédric Klapisch, Tonie Marshall and François Ozon. All of whom are deeply concerned about the emphasis on the film industry’s emphasis on financial gain to the detriment of audiovisual production.
To that end, yesterday, 7 July, the July Meeting called for the entertainment industry’s statute to be renegotiated as soon as possible.
Minister Aillagon suggested that reforms might be possible in 2004 but the industry feels this is too little too late, so they designated today, 8 July, as “Operation Black Screen”.
Today's protest will effectively halt the scheduled Paris premiere of Franco-Icelandic director Solveig Anspach’s latest feature, Stormy Weather [+see also:
trailer
film profile], at the Paris Cinéma Festival. Instead of presenting her film Anspach will moderate a debate. More protests are scheduled countrywide.
(Translated from French)
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