07/07/2011

On July 13, the European Parliament’s Culture Committee will look closely at the draft report by Polish MEP Piotr Borys on “European cinema in the digital era” (2010/2306(INI)).

Highlighting the threat posed to small independent theatres located in small towns and less developed regions, the draft resolution calls on EU member states and the European Commission to support the complete digitisation of European movie theatres through European and national programmes. European structural funds in particular should be used, with a reinforced capacity in the future long-term budgetary framework.

Borys also points to the availability of loans at preferential rates with the European Investment Bank (EIB) and the importance of the MEDIA Programme in supporting the digitisation process as well as the dubbing and subtitling of films.

Legislative measures should also be adopted to ensure the collection, cataloguing, restoration and screening of film heritage pieces.

The report also focuses on film education, new modes of distribution and the promotion of European productions.

Moreover, at the discussion about the 2012 draft budget, MEP Borys, who has written a report on digital cinema which is expected in the autumn, suggested including a sum of €5m in the budget for the implementation of a preparatory action on “the circulation of audiovisual works in the digital environment”. This would involve testing out the impact of a simultaneous or quasi-simultaneous release of productions on all available platforms, on different territories, focusing on productions which don’t have a distributor or are released on a limited number of prints, and debut films.

The project should focus on a minimum of 30 films and a significant number of territories. The aim is to test out innovative models of VOD supply and provide information about the complementarity between the different distribution platforms available in Europe (movie theatres, VOD, DVD, television).

(Translated from French)