02/05/2005

Gathered last Thursday in Banska Bystrica, in Slovakia, within the framework of the Visegrad Four (Hungary, Poland, Czech Republic and Slovakia), the cultural ministers of the four countries joined their Slovenian counterpart and signed an agreement of cooperation with regard to promotion and international distribution of Central European cinematography. A Subsidy Fund will be created to better promote the cinematic output of these five nations, an initiative to which Austria will also subscribe.

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Finalised after intense lobbying by the different national institutions and producers associations representing the 7th art in Central Europe, this agreement is in keeping with joint efforts such as the presentations at last year’s Cannes Festival of films from Poland, Slovakia and the Czech Republic. These initiatives are proving vital due to the difficulties of distributing films from the Eastern countries beyond their own boundaries, particularly in Western Europe. For instance, from 1996 to 2003 only 42 films produced by the eight countries newly entered into the EU last year were distributed in the 15 territories that made up the EU before 2004, making a market share of 0,05 % (half of which was achieved by one film: Kolya in 1997). However, the new cinema generation has begun to emerge in the East, the young Hungarian wave representing the front-line of this phenomenon which common international promotion could no doubt support, with stronger encouragement and financial backing. So, rendez-vous in the coming weeks at Cannes to measure the impact of this cross-border union.

(Translated from French)