23/10/2006

Writer-playwright-screenwriter-critic Maciej Karpinski was vice president of the Polish Filmmakers’ Association, a screenwriting teacher at the Lodz Film School and director of programming at the Gdynia Polish Film Festival. In September of 2005, he was named vice president, in charge of promoting Polish cinema abroad, of the Polish Film Institute (PISF).

Even though it was founded only recently, Variety has called the PISF the "most efficient promoter of a national cinema in Eastern and Central Europe". But it is well known that success cannot come without funding. How has financing for the promotion of Polish cinema been changed by the PISF?
Maciej Karpinski: The situation has changed drastically. In the past, the lack of money was a significant problem and even the promotion of very interesting films, which deserved to be seen abroad, was inefficient and often inadequate in meeting market needs. Resources have changed now. Our activity is two-fold: through our own initiatives and with the support towards promotion allocated by producers, distributors and associations. At the moment, the PISF has a budget of 2.5m zlotys (€625,000) for promotion. It may not be fortune, but it is enough to do serious work in this field.

The PISF began its promotional activity in the US, yet for years Polish films have not been distribution in closer, European countries….
Naturally, Europe is more important for us. And we must admit that the situation for Polish cinema has changed on our continent. After a long absence, several Polish films have found distributors and important international sales agents. Małgorzata Szumowska’s Ono [+see also:
trailer
film profile] came out in Germany, Persona non grata [+see also:
trailer
film profile] by Krzysztof Zanussi in Italy, Z odzysku (Retrieval) [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile] by Sławomir Fabicki found distribution in France. This is a good sign.

The possibilities of a foreign release are greater for a co-production. The PISF recently gave its support to celebrated European directors such as Peter Greenaway and Volker Schlöndorff.
The Polish tax system does not offer incentives, such as, for example, in Hungary, so we are very interested in co-productions, which compensate for this lack in some way. We realise that for every euro we spend, at least a few euros are invested in Poland. And we are fully aware that without a financial participation, it would be difficult to attract co-producers. This does not mean we back all co-productions. We have an evaluation system based on two main criteria: the project must be a quality film and producing it must be simply advantageous for us.