02/10/2009

Unveiled yesterday by Minister of Culture Frédéric Mitterrand, the 2010 funding budget for the film and audiovisual industries stands at €543.63m (+5.8% compared to 2009).

These funds are mainly covered by three taxes: €121.34m from admission prices (10.72% of the cost of a ticket - estimated audience figures for 2009 are 185m admissions), €422.3m from television programmers and distributors and €32.17m from the video and VOD sector.

Other sources and mechanisms of funding are available. A total of €63m is provided by Sofica (group of companies who finance the film and audiovisual industries), €55-60m is set aside next year for the tax credit for domestic film production (the same amount has been allocated for audiovisual production), and €15-20m for the new international tax credit.

The budget allocated by the National Film and Animated Image Centre (CNC) is broken down thus: €348.28m in automatic support will be shared out among film producers (€74.9m), distributors (€23.64m), exhibitors (€57.74m), video editors (€6m) and audiovisual producers (€182m). The budget for selective support amounts to €199.35m, including €26m for the advance on receipts and over €11.5m for pre-production creative development grants.

Priorities for 2010 include a €10m cash injection for the transition to digital (equipping theatres and digitalisation of catalogues), and increased support for arthouse cinemas and VOD development.

The Ministry of Culture has also earmarked €5.3m for the fight against piracy and the setting up of the High Authority for the Distribution of Works and Protection of Rights on the Internet (HADOPI).

Finally, the 2010 budget also includes €2.5m for supporting regional film festivals (the CNC also provides €1.5m for festivals of national and international interest).

(Translated from French)