Brussels, 18/11/2010 (Agence Europe) - European cinema is facing a major challenge: how to adapt to the new technologies which are revolutionising film production and consumption, with the digitisation of works but without neglecting art-house films which make such a valuable contribution to member states' cultural and linguistic diversity. The great danger is that well-financed US productions will flood the market, threatening to wipe out European productions at the same time as analogue processes. At the same time, digitisation represents an unprecedented opportunity for European cinema to develop and open up to different horizons through the possibilities offered by various platforms. This is a stark fact of life for small cinemas which often lack the necessary resources to fund the cost of new equipment.
Protection of European cinema heritage and the challenges posed by digitisation are the two main audiovisual priorities of the Belgian Presidency of the EU Council of Ministers. On Thursday 18 November, the Council adopted two series of conclusions. The first refers to the transition from analogue to digital projection. The recommendation here is that preservation of the cinema heritage should be an integral part of national and regional policies and that these should form a long-term strategy for the collection, restoration and preservation of films, both analogue and digital. Member states are invited to ensure that films that have been supported by national or regional funds are deposited with a film heritage institution and that these institutions can, in compliance with intellectual property rights, enjoy rights allowing them to preserve these films and use them for cultural and non-commercial purposes. These rights should include granting access to extracts, or even to the entire material, through public platforms giving access to online cultural content such as the online library Europeana. The second set of conclusions relate to the opportunities and challenges of digital technology for European cinema. They highlight the need for public policies to support the transition to digitisation. Various sources of funding must be pursued, public and private, regional, national and European. Public aid will have to comply with European state aid rules, which are currently being examined by the European Commission, with public funding of the digitisation of cinemas being considered.
Following the debate on the cultural and audiovisual dimensions of the digital strategy, agreement was reached on four points, said Belgian minister Fadila Laanan, who chaired the discussions. 1) Digitisation of the cultural and audiovisual heritage is a key point in the digital strategy. 2) Sufficient funding and a sustainable model have to be found for Europeana. 3) An appropriate framework is required for intellectual property rights and for copyright. This is crucial for the strategy and for the single market for digital content. 4) The digital strategy must take full account of Europe's inherent cultural diversity. Commissioners Neelie Kroes (digital strategy) and Androulla Vassiliou (audiovisual) both called on member states to make more use of the structural funds and of the European Investment Bank (EIB) to help finance the digitisation process. Vassiliou added that the Commission would, in 2011, put in place a system for the digitisation of European films and that she would closely monitor the copyright and intellectual property rights situation as the digital strategy develops. While, like the majority of culture ministers, she backs a reduction in VAT rate for cultural works, she feels that, unfortunately, there is little probability of this ever coming about as unanimity is required for the adoption of the green paper on VAT, unanimity which is unlikely to be achieved in the current context of economic austerity. (I.L./transl.rt)