11/12/2002

The Portuguese production panorama is not particularly negative. Aside from automatic aid to those directors whose earlier works were seen by a pre-established number of people, financial help is on hand from the Portuguese Audiovisual Institute also for Portuguese television channels, obliged to contribute 20 per cent of the budgets of all Portuguese productions.
However, Renée Gagnon, the owner of Portuguese film production and distribution company, Marfilmes, “it is not always enough, especially when we are dealing with big-budget films.” Does that mean festivals are a good alternative? “Portuguese cinema was launched thanks to festivals and some of our directors even enjoyed the privilege of getting 12 pages in Cahiers du Cinéma. Unfortunately, not every film is selected for important festivals like Venice or Cannes, also one of the most important international markets in existence. Furthermore, the current political and economic climate does nothing to assure young filmmakers the same chance their predecessors enjoyed.”
what can be done to help cinema renew itself and discover young talents? Renée Gagnon is eager to emphasise the fact that producers, but more especially distributors, should dedicate more energy to supporting films not necessarily made by “huge names”. “My profession is that of researcher, but it is a given that the overwhelming majority of producers prefer the financial side of the business to the intellectual or cultural aspects. And you certainly don’t get rich if you spend most of your energies on the latter two. In the past I worked as a distributor in Portugal for one of Jim Jarmusch’s first films. I took huge risks and when the film was first presented in Cannes, everyone was open-mouthed, but I believed in his work”
Is it possible to imagine a united Europe that handles film the financing and promotion of national titles and co-productions? “I think this idea is too complex to carry out. But who knows? Maybe the implementation of European Union and our getting used to the Euro will turn out to be incentives for a future along similar lines. For the moment, it is down to the festivals to ensure that films emerge from anonymity. Lately we have also seen a return to national productions. This is a result, albeit a slow one, of the process of circulating films that also brings new energy to national culture. It is clear that nine times out of ten these films are not exportable precisely because of their strong national identities. A dog that bites its own tail.”
As well as forecasting the extension of education about the film industry to all European schools, something that exists for art and the theatre, Renée Gagnon concluded by reaffirming the importance of supporting small distributors too. “They are the ones who, more than anyone else, care about European productions - and there are many of them. I think they should receive better support, not only from a financial point of view but also from a generalised reduction in bureaucracy. When faced with piles of forms to fill in before any hope of seeing a penny of the “financial support” you so strongly desire, my courage and enthusiasm fall by the wayside!”