21/11/2005

‘Local film culture, global exchange’ is the theme of the one day conference on November 30th organised by the Independent Film Parliament (IFP) at the French Institute in London as part of a global initiative launched by Unesco with the aim to sustain diversity in the marketplace.
. Key speakers will include UK director Pawel Pawlikovski, the director of the National Film and Television school and Chairman of the European Film Academy Nik Powell, leading Quebecois actor Pierre Cursi and Carole Tongue, Chair of the IFP, President of Cities and Cinemas European Network. Among the topics discussed will be the UNESCO Convention, the UK government’s strategies for a diverse audiovisual culture –a subjet that will be strongly debated as the government is curently reviewing the whole UK film policy-, the role of the small and big screen, the importance of keeping international perspectives, surviving as a low budget producer and the role of education.

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The conference will be the IFP’s second major public forum after the inaugural one at the Cambridge Film Festival in July 2003. The consultative forum for pluralism and diversity in the UK film culture was founded with the aim to serve the specialist or cultural film sector in the UK where foreign language films represent only 4.6% of UK B.O. gross, only 6% of screens are dedicated to non-mainstream programming, under 5% of screens are in rural location, and 97,3% of films in distribution and exhibition are from the US or US co-productions.
The IFC is run by a Steering Committee including Ian Christie, vice-president of Europa Cinemas, UK producer David Kelly (The European Co-production Bureau), and Catherine Des Forges, Head of the Independent Cinema Office, and among the patrons are the actress Tilda Swinton, filmmakers Alex Cox and Sally Potter and film composer Michael Nyman.