10/05/2005

The Centre National de la Cinématographie (CNC) has a full schedule for the 58th Cannes Film Festival which starts tomorrow. The highlight will certainly be the meeting organised on Monday 16th at 3pm for representatives from the 25 European TV and Film agencies. This year, the CNC intends to ‘promote cultural diversity in the entire world’ ; the French public institution will therefore settle at the Pavilion Southern Films (Cinémas du Sud), the Pantiero lounge, and on the terraces on the 6th floor of the Palais des Festivals. Moreover, this year the CNC is supporting the new International Pavilion for film music organised by the Film Music Composers’ Union (UCMF).

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Amongst the numerous events on the programme, one of the major ones is the official conclusion, on Saturday the 14th, of an agreement between the CNC and Japan on piracy, film distribution, financing, studies, exchange between professionals, festivals, and films as a cultural asset. On Monday the 16th, the French Minister of Culture Renaud Donnedieu de Vabres will attend a reception organised at the Majestic for the publication the CNC Info Report 2004, after which Catherine Colonna, General Manager of the CNC, will meet, in the afternoon, her European colleagues to discuss cultural policies, online cinema, new technologies, and piracy. The next day, the actors Sylvie Testud (member of the jury of the Cinéfondation) and Denis Podalydès will read a few scripts. On Wednesday the 18th, their will be a conference on ‘cultural diversity, discussions between Southern directors’, organised in a partnership with the SACD, TV5, and the inter-governmental Agency of the French-speaking communities. Finally, it is worth mentioning that the CNC, in collaboration with the Film Market, has also invited two producers from Bosnia (Elma Tatarajic and Ademir Kenovic), two Israeli, and a producer from Kazakhstan to join the Producers Network from the 13th to the 18th.

(Translated from French)