05/07/2010

On Wednesday June 30, the Catalonian Parliament approved the region’s controversial Film Law which, according to the political parties who drafted it, “will strengthen the industry, boost access to a greater variety of films and improve the supply of films in their original language and in Catalan”.

However, criticism soon followed from the entire sector, led by exhibitors and distributors. A day later, through FEDICINE (an organisation that groups together 90% of Spain’s exhibition sector), professionals stated that “it would jeopardise the viability of companies in the sector and destroy more jobs”.

Of the 53 articles that make up the law, article 18 has been the focus of the controversy that has brought the civil service and film sector into conflict over the past few months (see news). The said article regulates linguistic quotas and demands that at least half of analogue prints be released in versions that are dubbed or subtitled in Catalan (with the exception of European productions with a print run of under 16).

This linguistic aspect was precisely one of the priorities of the Catalan Government, who have tried to “correct the linguistic inequality that exists especially in cinema, where Catalan has not been able to expand”, according to Catalonian Culture Minister Joan Manuel Tresserras.

This opinion is not shared by the main distributors’ and exhibitors’ associations in Spain and Catalonia, who have condemned the fact that the law has been passed “against the whole sector and behind the European Union’s back”. FEDICINE president Luis Hernández de Carlos has sounded the alarm, for “the regulation will have dramatic consequences for Catalan viewers – lots of films won’t get released and many others simply won’t be dubbed".

(Translated from Spanish)