07/02/2003

On 5 February, Jean-Jacques Aillagon, the French minister for culture commissioned Antoine Schwarz to draw up a report on French audiovisual production financing. Schwarz is scheduled to present his findings at the end of this year, with a preliminary report due in June.
The inquiry will be a detailed analysis of the following sectors: financial support for the National Film Centre; the financial obligations of French TV channels to film production, European funding both public and mixed (i.e. IFCIC, Soficas and banks). It will be based on surveys carried out by the European Audiovisual Observatory, an umbrella organisation for distributors, producers’ associations and state-run institutions like Direction du Développement des Médias(DDM), CNC, Conseil Supérieur de l'Audiovisuel ). Speaking in December 2002, Aillagon said despite the dynamic nature of French audiovisual production, French television was broadcasting fewer films and programmes than its British or German counterparts, and he found this unsatisfactory.
Antoine Schwarz is a former deputy director of DDM, a director of RMC and the Editions Mondiales publishing house. He is a former technical consultant to the CNC, president of SOFIRAD and is currently the head of SFP-Production and SFP – Cinéma.

(Translated from French)