The European Audiovisual Observatory is focusing on the impact of VoD on the film value chain in this year's conference at the 70th Cannes Film Festival. This year's conference Is VoD growing the film pie? will take place on Saturday 20 May from 9.30 to 11.30 at the Olympia Cinema, 5 Rue de la Pompe. You can register for free by mail and donwload the programme here.

This year the line-up of experts will be looking at the evolution of VoD and its impact on the film ecosystem. They'll be asking how much rightsholders can expect to earn from TVOD or SVOD, looking at the importance of a cinema release for a successful VoD release and also analyzing "direct to VoD" distribution as a viable option.

As far as the distribution chain of a film is concerned, they'll be looking at the impact of new EU rules on the traditional distribution chain. We'll also be asking if there is still a standard distribution model which follows the classical windows chronology and territory-by territory exploitation.

The Observatory's own team: Gilles Fontaine, Head of the Department for Market Information and Maja Cappello, Head of the Department for Legal Information will be introducing each panel with snapshot presentations of data and analysis of the European film industry. The master of ceremonies is Michael Gubbins of SampoMedia.

The Observatory's Executive Director, Susanne Nikoltchev, recalls that this conference marks the 25th anniversary of the Strasbourg-based Observatory, part of the Council of Europe. She is looking forward to an Observatory birthday cocktail of film facts, figures and lots of fun during the Q&A.