29/09/2016 - The finance bill provides for a 5.2% increase in the budget for the French National Film and Moving Image Centre

Unveiled by the Minister of Culture, Audrey Azoulay, the 2017 Finance Bill sees the CNC’s budget increase by 5.2%, to €707 million. This increase will first of all allow it to keep up with growth in production volume, most notably with €13 million extra for automatic support. Indeed, the dynamism of the French market (with over 200 million admissions per year, putting France in first place in European box office rankings, and a sharp rise in production and investments to €375 million over the first six months of 2016, in particular thanks to the increase in value of tax credits) has a strong impact on the amount of automatic support for production distribution and exploitation thanks to the redistribution of taxes received across the entire industry.

Moreover, the CNC will be orchestrating a number of reforms in 2017, worth a total of €18 million, to improve the diversity of supply in the film industry (an increase in aid for distribution, a reform of the aid system for films classed as arthouse films, measures to support short films, etc.), to lend greater support to the international reach of films (implementing automatic support for the exportation of films; strengthening aid for the promotion of audiovisual productions), to support the actions of the regions, and to ensure that there’s a replenishment of talent (it should be noted that 30% of the aid for writing and production is today granted to the writers of first films).

The presentation of the 2017 Finance Bill also gave the Ministry of Culture a chance to pat itself on the back for the agreement between professionals concluded last May at Cannes to ensure better exposure of independent films in medium-sized and large theatres (limitations on multiple screenings in multiplexes ; contractual commitments on a guaranteed number of screenings for at least two weeks, etc.), and to facilitate access to ‘successful arthouse films’ for theatres in towns with fewer than 50,000 inhabitants.

Finally, at European level, the Ministry of Culture took the opportunity to recall that ‘with regard to copyright, France will fight to defend the principle of territoriality of the exploitation rights of a work, for linear broadcasting and non-linear broadcasting, as this is essential for funding production and the fair remuneration of creators."

(Translated from French)