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EVENTS Germany / France

The 7th German-French Film Rendez-vous in Strasbourg in 2009

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The 7th German-French Film Rendez-vous was held this year from 26 - 28 November at the Cité de la Musique et de la Danse in Strasbourg. Over 300 filmmakers from both countries took part in animated discussions with top-notch panels on topical issues from the cinema industry.

The event opened with Peter Dinges (FFA) and Valérie Lépine-Karnik (CNC) coming to a pleasing conclusion about the status quo of German-French co-production: 14 co-productions in 2008 and 17 in 2009 show that the minitraité funding has resulted in the number of co-productions rising to a stable level.

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The co-production market dominated the afternoon of the first day. 21 projects from Poland, Germany and France - 14 feature films, 6 documentaries and one animation film - had been selected for the market. The potential partners became better acquainted in one-to-one meetings.

Apart from focusing on new regulations in Germany and France (FFG revision and Crédit d’impôt international), the programme on Friday was also dedicated to presenting the French institutions IFCIC and Coficiné that are specialised in credit financing for films. Jacek Fuksiewicz (Polish Film Institute) and producer Maciej Strzembosz then reported on production opportunities and film funding in Poland.

In the afternoon, the exhibitors, distributors and producers from both countries discussed the digitalisation of the cinemas and, in particular, the financing of the conversion. While France has since found a model for all players, discussion is still continuing in Germany about the various possibilities.

The last - and also highly topical - panel discussion centred on the protection of copyright, the French Hadopi law and VOD business models.

The new media are a great challenge particularly for producers as far as the films' exploitation possibilities and revenues are concerned.

After the animated debates, there was sufficient time for personal conversations. On Thursday evening, the City of Strasbourg invited the participants to a dinner in the Pavillon Joséphine; a day later, ARTE, a long-standing partner of the Rendez-vous, was the host. The participants were then able to see the evening out in the Bar La Salamandre.

The 8th German-French Film Rendezvous will be held from 25 to 27 November 2010 in Heidelberg.

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