Posted on 05/21/2003 2:39:07 PM PDT by GulliverSwift
CANNES, France (AFP) - While the crowd at the Cannes film festival (news - web sites) unlocked the secrets of the new "Matrix" just in from the United States, EU ministers current and future worried instead about saving European cinema from Hollywood.
"We're not aiming to build walls around Europe," said Viviane Reding, the European Commissioner responsible for culture and education. "We want diversity for ourselves as well as for others. So we say: why not US films? But not just US films."
For the first time in its history, the Cannes film festival held a European Film Day on Thursday with Reding and 25 culture ministers from the new enlarged European Union (news - web sites)-to-be pondering ways to breathe life into the movie industry .
The ministers agreed to subsidise films, to promote films for the young and to boost pan-European distribution, Reding said.
A European film won the last Oscars (news - web sites) -- Roman Polanski (news)'s "The Pianist" -- and European nominations (mainly French ones) dominate the field vying for this year's top Cannes prize, the Palme d'Or, squeezing the number of US contenders to just three.
But the overall figures look bad for Europe.
Europe produces about as many films as the United States each year -- 600 compared to about 700 -- but has only 30 percent of the European market, Reding told AFP this week.
"Most of the 10 new EU countries played a major role in the history of cinema but today there are problems. The average Pole goes to the movies once a year while in Ireland people go four times a year to the movies," she said.
"We must help these countries rebuild their film industry."
The European Audiovisual Observatory this week said US films took the lion's share at the EU box office last year, with two out of three films made in the United States, more than the previous year.
The body said that "Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets", a US-financed title directed by an American and based on British author J.K. Rowling (news - web sites)'s book, was tops at the box office in 2002.
Reding said that meanwhile European films had problems crossing their own borders because of a "lack of promotional means and fragmented distribution while American films are distributed continent-wide."
But the plot went a little awry for the EU at Cannes on Thursday
That was also the day that Keanu Reeves (news) and the other stars of the "Matrix" sequel descended on Cannes to premiere the sci-fi blockbuster, and attention definitely was on the cyber-world of Hollywood special effects rather than on Europe.
The ministers nonetheless stuck to their script, choosing to attend the evening premiere of the Swiss entry for Cannes's coveted Palme d'Or -- "Ce jour-la" (That Day) by Raoul Ruiz -- missing the premiere of "The Matrix Reloaded", which is not in competition for the Palme.
"Today's event at the festival IS the Raoul Ruiz film," laughed French Culture Minister Jean-Jacques Aillagon, when asked if the Europeans felt they were missing out on the day's big happening.
Greek Culture Minister Evangelos Venizelos, who hosts a meeting of EU culture ministers at the end of the month, said Europe needed to define "its own European identity and culture" in order to build its own cinema.
In a joint statement the culture ministers at Cannes said they favoured continued financial aid to film-makers by member states as well as joint cooperation through the EU's MEDIA programme to help cinema.
The 400-million-euro five-year programme puts 60 percent of its funds into efforts to boost distribution and promotion across Europe. It notably aids (news - web sites) the Europea Cinema distribution network, which last year drew 21 million people to its 1,130 cinemas -- 14 million to see non-domestic European movies.
"Today's event at the festival IS the Raoul Ruiz film," laughed French Culture Minister Jean-Jacques Aillagon, when asked if the Europeans felt they were missing out on the day's big happening.
Plug your nose and laugh French--you get to see "Ce jour-la"!!!!!!!
"We must help these countries rebuild their film industry."
The ministers agreed to subsidise films, to promote films for the young and to boost pan-European distribution, Reding said.
Haven't their failed economies taught them something by now? Propping things up by the government never works, it just makes everybody feel better for a little while.
said Europe needed to define "its own European identity and culture" in order to build its own cinema.
Europe has no identity. It's comprised of 40 countries and who knows how many languages. It's like us having an identity with the Mexicans. Of course, it's even worse when you have to increase exponentially all the number of different languages.
LOL Yea, just big high fences, no walls.
What's Sean Connery got that I don't got?
Europeans don't want to watch European movies because on the whole, they stink. For my money, socialist subsidies have made them very much worse; there's something to be said for commercial enterprises having to live or die by their market appeal -- you really do get better value for your money that way, whether you're buying cheeseburgers, computers, or "cultural" stuff.
The body said that "Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets", a US-financed title directed by an American
Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets, filmed in England with English actors, faithfully adapted from a book by an English author is "US-financed "
So it's not about culture, it's about money.
Lord of the Rings made by a New Zealand director from a work by JRR Tolkein intended to recreate the English mythos.
Sense and Sensibilty made by a Chinese director from a work by the quintessential English author.
I'd say European Culture is doing just fine.
Or perhaps the Eww Cultural Ministers might like to agree that Britain is not Europe,
yeah, Sure!
The body said that "Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets", a US-financed title directed by an American
Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets, filmed in England with English actors, faithfully adapted from a book by an English author is "US-financed "
So it's not about culture, it's about money.
Lord of the Rings made by a New Zealand director from a work by JRR Tolkein intended to recreate the English mythos.
Sense and Sensibilty made by a Chinese director from a work by the quintessential English author.
I'd say European Culture is doing just fine.
Or perhaps the Eww Cultural Ministers might like to agree that Britain is not Europe,
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