On 18 May, Cannes’ Marché du Film (14-22 May) hosted an event titled “Film Commission, Beyond Locations”, moderated by Venia Vergou, of the European Film Commissions Network, and organised as part of the Switzerland Country of Honour initiative.

The talk saw the participation of Valais Film Commission head Tristan Albrecht, Ticino Film Commission operational manager Lisa Barzaghi, producer Carlo Cresto-Dina, Zurich Film Fund managing director Julia Krättli and Film Commission Zurich managing director Dino Malacarne.

After a quick round of introductions, the mic was handed to Krättli, who provided an overview of national and regional funding opportunities, and touched on the three pillars of public backing: the national one, bound to the Federal Office of Culture and Switzerland’s MEDIA Desk; public television stations; and regional funding provided by several bodies spread throughout the country. Krättli added how the Zurich Film Fund doesn’t offer tax incentives, but rather investment refunds, and teams need a Swiss producer in order to be eligible. The fund backs all types of formats, providing bursaries to support development, production and promotion. Each grant, provided in the form of a soft loan, can consist of a maximum of 100,000, 1 million and 100,000 Swiss francs, respectively.

Krättli also expressed uncertainty about the effects of the new film act, in place since January. “It’s completely new, and we don’t know how it’ll turn out,” she said, adding how VoD services and broadcasters are now obliged to spend 4% of their gross income in Switzerland, investing in domestic productions. She underscored how co-producing with the EU, Canada and Mexico has been made easier over the years, thanks to dedicated conventions and treaties. The country’s main co-production partners are Germany, France, Italy, Belgium, Austria and Canada.

Later, Cresto-Dina unpacked his experience of co-producing with Switzerland. “Out of the 20 films I have produced, I think only one wasn’t co-produced with Switzerland. That being said, that kind of co-production was never taken for granted by us. It wasn’t just a financial thing; it was never like that. It’s always been a mutual exchange that made our films better, richer and readier for larger audiences,” he highlighted, touching on his first co-production, Alice Rohrwacher’s 2011 movie Corpo celeste [+leggi anche:
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intervista: Alice Rohrwacher
scheda film].

He spoke about his work with Swiss partners as “a long, fruitful experience” and in particular praised the collaboration with Tiziana Soudani, “a person you could call any time, and she’d be ready to help you”.

Next, Barzaghi stressed her body’s work on facilitating shoots in the territory, adopting almost “a customised strategy” for each project and following productions from start to finish, providing help and advice at different stages, including location scouting, incentives, manpower and accommodation options. She also spoke about the film commission’s work with Margherita Vicario, who co-produced her Berlinale-screened debut, Gloria! [+leggi anche:
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intervista: Margherita Vicario
scheda film], with Switzerland.

Cresto-Dina pointed out how he has always found it easier to work with film commissions retaining core functions in house and spoke about the lack of a certified green protocol, mentioning the example of Albert, which he billed as “greenwashing”, lamenting the system’s request to comply with certain rules but leaving productions free to “self-certify” their results.

Barzaghi zoomed in on her team’s mission to welcome foreign shoots, while also developing the local audiovisual industry. Albrecht agreed with Barzaghi, adding a remark about how many of the foreign productions just “come and go”. For him, supporting local professionals and strengthening the local economy and tourism remain primary goals. He also spoke about the film commissions’ role and capability to deal with “strong egos” with whom different approaches are required – in these cases, negotiating is key.

In this respect, Barzaghi cited the example of an upcoming, undisclosed Amazon Prime production, an action flick that required the closure of a street in the centre of Lugano. The film commission’s work proved essential to ensure full collaboration from the police, the municipality and, more importantly, the local community.

The panel was rounded off by a short Q&A session.