Brussels, 04/11/2010 (Agence Europe) - A better knowledge of cinematographic culture can combat euro-scepticism and help European citizens to feel they belong to one and the same culture. These are the conclusions reached from a public hearing organised recently by the European Parliament's committee on education and culture. “There can be no genuine sense of shared European identity if we forget our culture, especially cinema”, said Doris Pack (EPP, Germany), who chairs the parliamentary committee.
According to the German film producer, Wim Wenders, Europe is often seen as a political, economic and bureaucratic structure leaving little place to culture, and giving rise to euro-scepticism. He suggested more focus should be given to the cinema as a solution to this problem and called for cinema culture to be made a compulsory subject of study in school curricula in order to give an education to the young, who are more easily drawn to American super-productions rather than to European films.
It is becomingly increasingly difficult for independent and younger film makers to reach an audience, said Polish film distributor Roman Gutek. To remedy this, he suggested innovative, more diverse distribution channels, such as the internet and non-commercial cinemas. Giorgio Gosetti, General Delegate of “Venice Days” at the Venice International Film Festival, and Anne Jäckel, a visiting UK research fellow, highlighted the crucial role of the European institutions in supporting European cinema. On the MEPs' side, Silvia Costa (S&D, Italy) noted the challenge of cinema digitalisation and emphasised the need to ensure copyright and remuneration for creative works. Jean-Marie Cavada (EPP, France) said that, in the light of rising nationalism, cinema could help greatly to create a “European sense of belonging” as long as European and national funding is sufficient to support the film industry. Ivo Belet (EPP, Belgium), Petra Kammerevert (S&D, Germany) and Maria Badia i Cutchet (S&D, Spain) supported the idea of including cinema culture in school programmes. Finally, Lothar Bisky (GUE/NGL, Germany) and Sean Kelly (EPP, Ireland) underlined the need for more European films to be dubbed or to have subtitles. (I.L./transl.jl)