14/01/2003

The French Federation of Cinemas (FNCF) was quick to react to the proposals about film production financing made by the Association of French Writers-Directors-Producers (ARP ) on 12 December 2002.
The FNCF were particularly angered by the plans ARP has in store for the exhibition sector, and voiced their discontent to the French culture minister, the National Film Center (CNC) and also to Jean-Pierrre Leclerc who is compiling a report about reforms to the French film finance system that is scheduled to be presented to the Minister at the end of this month.
The first of ARP’s controversial suggestions was to levy a tax on the sale of refreshments in cinemas and on advertising, whose revenues would be regulated by a yet-to-be-established upper limit. Another bone of contention was ARP’s proposal to increase financial support to exhibitors in proportion to the time a given film was programmed for in their theatres. ARP also called for exhibitors to be obliged to screen the trailers of independent films.
The French exhibitors’ representatives decided to defend their territory and turned down the proposals made by ARP. The FNCF is of the opinion that exhibitors are only now starting to see a return on the investments they made to re-modernise their theatres. Exhibitors meanwhile are becoming more and more dissatisfied with the severity of conditions imposed by distributors, especially by the cost of film rentals, which is considerably higher in France than in other European countries.

(Translated from French)