An unmissable industry event for taking the sector’s pulse and identifying current and future issues, the 35th edition of the Film Meetings kicked off today, offering up three days of debates in Touquet-Paris-Plage, organised by the highly influential ARP – Civil Society of Authors-Directors-Producers. Presided over by filmmakers Valérie Donzelli (At Work [+leggi anche:
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intervista: Valérie Donzelli
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intervista: Boris Lojkine
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Today, the Meetings’ focus has been on the question "Transatlantic dialogue: how should culture protect itself?", within the context of European regulations and policies coming under attack from the US administration (supported by certain digital platforms) vis-a-vis the cultural exception, the AVMSD and film funding mechanisms. The debate will be opened by French Culture Minister Rachida Dati and the CNC’s deputy CEO Olivier Henrard, further involving Kjersti Mo (managing director of the Norwegian Film Institute and vice-president of EFAD), European deputy Emma Rafowicz, Italy’s Francesco Ranieri Martinotti (chair of ANAC – the National Italian Association of Film Authors), US' Howard A Rodman (vice-president of the Academy for Motion Picture Arts and Sciences) and academic Chloé Delaporte.

On Thursday 6 November, the topic "Independent cinema: which key factors for audience figures?" will be dissected by producers Priscilla Bertin (Silex Films), Isabelle Madelaine (Dharamsala) and their counterparts Bruno Nahon (Unité), Marc Missonnier (Moana Films and chair of the Union of Film Producers), Denis Pineau-Valencienne (Les Films du Kiosque), Marine Forde (director of film production at Gaumont), Manuel Alduy (director of film at France Télévisions) and Isabelle Terrel (managing director of Natixis Coficiné).

A debate entitled "Artificial intelligence: an opportunity for European cinema?", will then explore possible creative uses of this technology within the industry (notably involving head of film and media partnerships and generative AI at Google Johann Choron, creative director and head of AI at Google DeepMind Matthieu Lorrain, filmmaker Nicolas Saada, and co-director of La Fémis’ set design department Anne Seibel), alongside regulation and copyright (involving European deputies Axel Voss and David Cormand, and the CNC’s digital director Pauline Augrain, among other names).

Last but not least, Friday 7 November will play host to significant meetings, firstly involving Maxime Saada (chair of the board for Canal+) who will discuss the strategy adopted by French cinema’s leading partner, Canal+, and specifically its ambitions in the field of film exploitation, given its recent equity investment in UGC. Next, there’ll be an exchange on the subject of "Platforms, broadcasters and the authorities, the major issues impacting film creation?" (involving the European deputy and chair of the European Parliament’s Commission for Economic and Monetary Affairs Aurore Lalucq, Arte France chair Bruno Patino, the general manager of YouTube France and Southern Europe Justine Ryst and France Télévisions’ director of subsidiaries and programmes Stéphane Sitbon-Gomez) as well as an update on regulation, courtesy of Martin Ajdari (chair of Arcom).

Equally noteworthy on the agenda of the 35th Film Meetings are screenings of At Work by Valérie Donzelli, Case 137 [+leggi anche:
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intervista: Dominik Moll
scheda film] by Dominik Moll, L’Affaire Bojarski by Jean-Paul Salomé, The Girl in the Snow [+leggi anche:
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intervista: Louise Hémon
scheda film] by Louise Hémon, Louise by Nicolas Keitel, and the documentaries Bardot, by the duo Elora Thévenet and Alain Berliner, and New Beginnings by Isabelle Ingold and Viviane Perelmuter.