03/07/2013 - Joint panel of LUX Prize and Europa Distribution takes place at Karlovy Vary

A panel organized by the LUX Prize and Europa Distribution entitled 'Distribution of European Films: A Dangerous Hobby or Sustainable Business Model' took place at the Karlovy Vary International Film Festival.

The speakers at the panel included Stephane De Potter, head of Cineart; Loic Magneron, president of WIDE Management; two Czech independent distributors: Ivo Andrle from the Aerofilms and Premysl Martinek from Artcam, and moderator by Jakub Duszynski, co-president of Europa Distribution. Vice-President of the European Parliament Oldrich Vlasak (photo) gave the opening speech.

The issues discussed covered a wide range of topics- from the identity of European film, to the state of distribution, promotion and exhibition, to both public and European level support, and the influence of new formats such as VoD.

Magneron finds distribution of European film extremely important. “Working with European films is a necessity for the culture landscape of Europe, for the new generation to see films coming from other countries and for the audience to see the authenticity of the others, and for controlling change,” the sales agent said.

But it seems that the public support for conversion to digital has not helped European arthouse films as much as expected. Besides actually giving more room in multiplexes to Hollywood blockbusters, it also influenced arthouse cinemas.

“The public support for single-screen cinemas’ transition to digital in Poland promoted national cinema and actually decreased the presence of other European films, because there was a clause to screen a certain minimum of local films. When the support came on the European level, there was no such clause- to keep a certain percentage of European films- because they said they couldn’t interfere with national markets,” said Duszynski.

Magneron explained that “More films are being released and there are less admissions, because the films stay shorter in distribution due to the virtual print fee, so their visibility is smaller.“

Other distribution channels are also challenged by technological changes which brought different needs for the audiences.

A couple of years ago it was possible to sell almost all our titles to Czech national TV, but there has been a switch and now European cinema has no window there,” said Martinek.

Magneron added: "Distributors are now trying all kinds of experiments, such as cross-promotion with day-and-date release on all platforms such as Artificial Eye is doing in the UK."

However, as du Polten pointed out, these channels are not yet being properly used. “VoD is a problem because it is provided by people who don’t know cinema, so the way they present a film is extremely amateur,” said the distributor.

But besides the obvious, and perhaps inevitable obstacles, it is also clear that distribution support, such as MEDIA programme and LUX Prize, is indispensable.

 “Usually the European arthouse hits are mainly French or Danish or English. LUX Prize is important because it gives a much more comprehensive look of what Europe is creating in all the different regions,” said du Polten. “It is also focused on new talents, which is fantastic because we need a new generation of film-makers. And the third element which is interesting is that it focuses on films which have not been that exposed in festivals."