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INDUSTRY France

BLOC goes into battle

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The Bureau de liaisons des organisations cinématographiques a.k.a. “BLOC”, an umbrella organisation for independent French film directors, producers and distributors has presented its plan of action for 2003.
One of the key issues is finance, especially after the “implosion of the Canal+ Group and its subsidiaries.” BLOC’s primary goal is to restore and renew the ways in which French cinema is financed. This has become particularly important after the recent development of the TV market and the disappearance of several Soficas (a network of French regional film and audiovisual finance agencies). BLOC also intends ensuring that French pay-TVs fulfil their financial obligations to the industry, and would like to “free” French terrestrial hertzian TVs from programming constrictions by eliminating the clause that obliges TVs to broadcast a pre-set number of films annually.
BLOC will also re-examine distribution, by supporting the release of independent features that are currently threatened by a dearth in available screen numbers. They would also like to resolve the problems caused by the exponential growth of US prints in circulation. 2003 is also when BLOC would like to look at key issues like market saturation, the circulation of films and copyright.
This promises to be a busy year of lobbying and communications for the heads of BLOC, producer Alain Terzian and director Robert Guédiguian.

(The article continues below - Commercial information)
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(Translated from French)

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