Film-makers await end of fund story

Date: 13/03/1997

By Chris Johnstone

EUROPE'S film industry is still languishing on the proverbial casting couch as it tries to entice member states to earmark EU funds for a promised money-spinning programme of aid to the sector.

A handful of countries remain sceptical about the industry's call for a 60-million-ecu film fund despite intense lobbying by some of its top names, with Sweden, Germany, and the UK cast in the role of doubters.

After a meeting with industry bosses from PolyGram Filmed Entertainment and CLT-UFA and independent producers from Sweden, Portugal and France, Stockholm said its doubts about the industry's support for the fund had been answered, but it still had other concerns which would prevent it from giving its backing.

“We could not agree to it going ahead at the moment,” said one Swedish official. “The present proposal must be modified.”

The lack of private capital involved in the film fund, the danger that it could be hijacked in whole or part as an instrument for cultural policy, and question marks about where the initial cash would come from, are Sweden's three outstanding worries.

Sources say Germany and the UK share most of the Swedish doubts.

As a budget issue, the proposed film fund can only be created with unanimous support from all 15 EU governments.

The film industry and member states are now waiting for the Dutch EU presidency to digest the latest comments and come up with proposals to break the deadlock next month.

The latest outline for the fund was scripted by the previous Irish presidency after private banks said they did not want to take part in a more ambitious programme based on a mix of private and EU money.

Its supporters say the smaller fund now being proposed should prove that profitable films can be backed and put in place the structure for a much more ambitious scheme to follow. Cash from the fund would be used to guarantee loans for films in case they flopped - as a sort of insurance policy against failure.

Europe's film industry points to the Union's massive trade deficit in audio-visual products with the US, and contrasts huge EU investment in paving the way for the information highway with paltry Union and national backing for their activities.

“We estimate that the EU put aside 1 billion ecu in its 1995 budget for spending on the infrastructure of the information highway and special projects linked to it. We are only talking about a 60-million-ecu fund which should release investment of around 300 million ecu,” said Philippe Kern, spokesman for the European

Film Companies Alliance (EFCA), which represents nine leading companies including Polygram, Rank and Pathé.