Cinema that promotes a dialogue between cultures can be good business and many of the films which promote cultural openness and dialogue are the result of cooperation between national film agencies and private sector film companies with vision and a dedication to quality.
The enduring success of the Paris-based Celluloid Dreams, a production and sales company with a commitment to quality ‘auteur’ cinema from throughout the world attests, to this.
Launched in 1992 by Iranian-born Engameh Panahi, the company has evolved into an independent powerhouse, getting behind films which almost invariably treat cinema-goers to an alternative perspective on the world.
One of Celluloid Dreams' most recent achievements has been the animated feature, PERSEPOLIS, by French female cartoonist Marjane Satrapi. Born in Iran, but educated partly in France where she now lives and works, Satrapi offers a tender, satirical perspective on her country of origin's political and religious turmoil and the contradictions with which women of her generation grapple as immigrants into Europe's secular, consumerist culture.

Read the Celluloid Dreams case study