Feature french cinema
Welcome To New York
Is France still a cinephile nation? France has long been a model of cinema-going culture. But with a box-office drop, a dip in production and cinema audiences getting older, Melanie Goodfellow looks at the future of film culture in the digital age
24 Screen International May 14, 2014
release in France and across Europe. “We have the biggest cinema theatre in the world, it’s called the internet,” says Maraval. When news of the plan broke in France some commentators said it sounded the death knell for the country’s media chronology legislation, which is one of the cornerstones of its envied film finance and distribution system.
Gaspar Noé
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bel Ferrara’s Welcome To New York — starring Gérard Depardieu in a role inspired by the downfall of former IMF chief Dominique Strauss-Kahn — is one of the most anticipated films of the year in France. Yet this buzz won’t be building in cinemas. Wild Bunch announced in April it will premiere the film on VoD in France. The move challenges the territory’s media chronology law that demands a four-month window between cinema and VoD release (and 36 months between theatrical and SVoD). It also means the picture won’t be in cinemas. “France is one of the only countries in the world where it’s against the law to show it on VoD and in the cinema at the same time,” says Wild Bunch co-chief Vincent Maraval. “The French media chronology laws are idiotic. They were created prior to the internet age and are anachronistic.” The company plans a $1m promotional campaign, kicking off with an event on the fringes of Cannes Film Festival attended by Ferrara and Depardieu, followed by the VoD
‘The French media chronology laws are idiotic. They were created prior to the internet age and are anachronistic’ Vincent Maraval, Wild Bunch
Other challenges But the move comes at a tough time for the French film industry on a number of fronts. “The cinema industry is always going through change and you just have to keep adapting but there’s been a perfect storm of two economic factors and one structural one over the last 12 months,” says producer Marie Masmonteil of Paris-based Elzevir, who is also president of France’s Syndicate of Independent Producers (SPI). The economic challenges, she says, comprise last year’s 10 million dip in spectators at the box office, to 192.8 million from 203.6 million, and the introduction of a collective
labour accord for crew that has upped production costs at a time when funding is tight. “A number of commercial French films flopped last year, which has made distributors wary of investing in local productions,” says Masmonteil, noting the French share of the market fell to some 31% in 2013 against 41% the year before. “Added to this the ‘collective convention’ has bumped up costs on lower-budget films by $278,000 (¤200,000) to $416,000 (¤300,000). It’s unlikely we would have green-lit any of our recent films under the new accord,” adds Masmonteil, who produced Un Certain Regard opener Party Girl alongside Elzevir partner Denis Carot. French production is down by 50% year on year, adds Masmonteil, who predicts there are 180 to 200 local films to be made this year against some 270 in 2013. Media chronology is also an issue, although she notes it is not so much VoD as SVoD, which is her syndicate’s chief concern. “We’re not so worried about transactional »
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