02/11/2022 - The threats posed to creative diversity, the seizure of cultural assets and the dispossession of authors by algorithms are the major topics under discussion between 2-4 November in Touquet-Paris-Plage

Once the cradle of the battle for the cultural exception, the ARP (French Civil Society of Authors-Directors-Producers) Film Meetings, whose 32nd edition (presided over by filmmakers Mounia Meddour and Thomas Lilti) opened today, will offer up three days of debates in Touquet-Paris-Plage. It’s an ideal occasion for taking the temperature of the French industry of the 7th art, which is solid in structure but currently negotiating some post-pandemic turbulence (notably, 30.3% fewer cinema admissions between January and the end of September than in 2019, with however encouraging signals in October) and trying to plan for a future whose ins and outs are open to discussion, if not altogether worrying (read our article on the Call for a General Assembly for Film).

As such, close to 500 professionals from all ends of the sector, and their supervising bodies (notably the French Minister for Culture Rima Abdul-Malak), are travelling to the coastal city in Hauts de France in order to decode current trends and assess potential solutions. Diversity within creation, support during risk taking, and the need to renew talent at a time when film budgets are becoming increasingly polarised, will all form the focus of the first debate, involving Sidonie Dumas (Gaumont, President of the French Association of Independent Producers), Carole Scotta (Haut et Court, Co-President of DIRE’s distributors), Marc Missonnier (Moana Films, Vice-President of the Union of Film Producers), Édouard Mauriat (Mille et Une Productions, Vice-President of Feature Films for the Independent Producers Union) and Dominique Boutonnat (President of the CNC).

How do we detect strategies for circumventing or optimising the rules, and ensure streamers respect their obligations? How do we support European operators with European shareholders, prevent film catalogues and cinemas from being bought by non-European operators, and ensure that the distribution of European intellectual property doesn’t wholly depend on operators controlled by American or Chinese players? These burning questions will be central to a debate entitled "The predation, seizure and drain of cultural assets: What is the future for cultural sovereignty?", in which Maxime Saada (Canal+), Gaspard de Chavagnac (Asacha Media Group), producer Isabelle Madelaine (Dharamsala, President of the French Union of Film Producers), MP Isabelle Rauch (President of the Commission for Cultural Affairs and Education within the National Assembly) and Jean-François Mary (ARCOM) are set to take part.

The Film Meetings will also explore the funding of the public audiovisual industry (the French government having recently done away with TV licences), as well as the place and independence of authors in a context where the concept of demand is now intruding on the creative process, and where algorithms and audience figures are having a huge influence on how stories are constructed.

Also worth a mention on the programme are the screenings of eight films: The Worst Ones [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Romane Gueret and Lise Akoka
film profile] by Lise Akoka and Romane Gueret, Houria [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile] by Mounia Meddour, The (in)famous Youssef Salem by Baya Kasmi, Le Torrent by Anne Le Ny, Top Dogs [+see also:
trailer
film profile] by Julien Guetta, I Hadn't Seen It That Way by Arnaud Viard, ‎For Better And For Worse [+see also:
trailer
film profile] by Tristan Séguéla and The Green Perfume [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile] by Nicolas Pariser.

(Translated from French)