12/09/2008

Like arthouse distributors elsewhere in Europe, Czech distributor Artcam is fighting an uphill battle. In 2007, combined total admissions for Artcam's films were under 50,000 — 0.4 percent of the national total. (By comparison, leading distributor Falcon drew more than 4 million viewers with its films, nearly a third of the market.)

Artcam managing director Premysl Martinek acknowledges the challenges he faces, but he is convinced there is room in the market for small distributors. He is looking forward to European Distributors: Up Next!, where he wants to learn how others distributors face their common challenges — everything from the opportunities offered by digital distribution and video-on-demand to how to negotiate with producers on minimum guarantees.

“I want to see how other European distributors deal with issues and compare, to see if it's really different here or if we [all] have the same problems,” he says.

The main problem is cultivating an audience. “It's very different from in Holland or Germany, where there are audiences for arthouse films,” he says.

Most of Artcam's target market is in Prague, home to roughly one million people. In the Czech capital, European film is largely restricted to a handful of single-screen theatres, while the city's 14 multiplexes focus primarily on Hollywood imports and successful local films. “It's hard to convince audiences to spend their free time on a drama from Denmark,” Martinek says, alluding to Ole Madsen's drama Prague [+see also:
trailer
film profile], which Artcam distributes.

Artcam has distributed some of the most widely heralded European films of recent years, including Persepolis [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Marc-Antoine Robert
interview: Marjane Satrapi, Vincent Pa…
film profile] and The Diving Bell and the Butterfly [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile] – two films which Martinek describes as perfectly suited for the small distributor. “[Persepolis] is a very attractive film in its form and topic,” he says. “[The Diving Bell and the Butterfly] is full of stars. Both were very successful in terms of admissions and for both it was easy to find promotional partners.”

Martinek says the international success of such films has attracted the attention of larger distributors. “When we acquired these films, no one wanted to buy Persepolis,” he says. “But this year at Cannes we tried to get Waltz with Bashir [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile] because we saw it had potential. But many other distributors felt the same way and we had to compete more.”

Martinek fears the Czech Republic is losing touch with European film. “We had connections in the 1970s with French and Italian masters but they've lost their audience,” he says.

Martinek says arthouse is an important part of any film culture, and lack of access to European films is hurting Czech cinema, he says. “We're disconnected from the cinema of other countries, from new ways of narration,” he says.

He points to recent local successes at the box office and says that, while they satisfy the producers' bottom line, they do not move Czech cinematography forward. “If we lose touch with high-quality arthouse films, it will impact our own cinema,” he says.

Martinek is encouraged that a recent change in education may cultivate interest in European film. The Czech Ministry of Education has introduced media studies to secondary school curricula. The mission, as Martinek sees it, is to show young people that film is “not just fun and popcorn. It's also art.”