A year of transition
European victory for cultural diversity and a new serenity concerning the funding linked to Canal +. This atmosphere of transition was the backdrop for the traditional appointment for the French production sector, the Beaune Film Meetings (now in its 13th edition), organised in Borgogna from October 23 to 26 by the ARP (Authors-Directors -Producers). There was an exploration and analysis of the many contradictions surrounding the future of digital and European enlargement, which has the potential for both good and bad.
The French professionals gave a warm welcome to the European Culture Commissioner, Viviane Reding, during the meetings supporting cultural diversity. Together with the French minister of culture, Jean Jacques Aillagon, she outlined the main path towards cultural diversity as part of the European Constitution and the positive start to work by UNESCO, with the aim of establishing an international framework on the question, without having to go via the WTO. Viviane Reding supported the idea of an attempted control, since “the Americans are starting to wake up”. She stressed the need to “go beyond European help for films” and to improve the circulation of works, and announced that by the end of her term in office she also intends to “give cinema a legal security for the years to come”, especially with a view to national funding for productions, with input from her fellow European Commissioner overseeing competition, Mario Monti.
The round table debates were introduced by the director, Alain Corneau, who is also president of the Beaune meetings. They focused on themes like DVDs, the introduction of digital and the enlargement of the European Union (which will soon be the subject of a Cineuropa dossier). These discussions were the opportunity to look at the increasing complexity in the cinematographic sector, and, according to the filmmaker, the challenges can stimulate Europe in its diversity when faced with digital, “the Terminator of mass audio-visual works”. At the end of the debated, this opinion was also shared by ARP. In the final statement of the meetings, there was concern expressed about crash of cinematographic sectors in the East, and there was a call for the new MEDIA programme post 2006 to take into account the needs of these countries. France was also urged to set up a new specific support fund destined for countries from the East, similar to the one operating at the beginning of the 1990s. As far as digital cinemas are concerned, the filmmakers from ARP expressed their concerns about the “risks of uniformity linked to the new technology and have called for a series of rules and regulations to be put in place”.
(Translated from French)
Did you enjoy reading this article? Please subscribe to our newsletter to receive more stories like this directly in your inbox.
