27/12/2002

Speaking with French film and audiovisual industry representatives on 23 December, French Culture Minister, Jean-Jacques Aillagon announced a series of moves he was taking to protect and conserve the national industry. The Minister was reacting to the worrying findings of the Couveinhes Report that was presented to him on 9 November by the National Film Center (CNC).
In his meeting with Thierry de Segonzac and Vincent Lamy, the joint presidents of FICAM (French Film, Audiovisual and Multimedia Industry Federation), Aillagon told them that a major cause for concern is the growing number of French productions that choose foreign locations. He ordered the CNC and FICAM to set up an official enquiry into the precise reasons for this.
The Minister also came up with two possible solutions to stem the debt that the French industry is running up. First, he suggested an increase in the funds that the Film Financing Institute and the various cultural organisations encompassed by umbrella organisation, IFCIC, make available to companies to avoid the latter from going under in the wait for due payment by producers. Second, Aillagon said he intends widening the criteria giving the industry access to funding for the implementation of new strategies, and significantly, to train new professionals. Aillagon was most emphatic that the much-needed modernisation of the industry not be limited to the mere acquisition of new equipment.

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(Translated from French)