EUROPEAN FILM PROMOTION - German Films

Renate Rose
years of its existence has grown to 21 members with the following
countries represented: Austria, Belgium, the Czech Republic,
Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Great Britain, Greece,
Hungary, Iceland, Ireland, Italy, Luxembourg, Netherlands, Norway,
Portugal, Spain, Sweden, and Switzerland. This list includes all the
member countries of the European Union (EU) as well as the socalled
”candidate countries“ who have applied for EU membership
and countries with cooperation contracts. (Note: Iceland and
Norway are also non-EU members, but they have cooperation
contracts with the MEDIA Program – the only ”outlaw“ is Switzerland.)
Financing of the EFP’s administrative costs is met by the Cultural
Authority of the City of Hamburg, Germany’s Federal
Commissioner for Cultural Affairs and the Media (BKM) and a
€1,500 annual subscription from each member promotional agency.
In addition, more money has come for the EFP from France’s CNC
since 2000. The extra cash was originally granted during the French
presidency of the European Union to support promotional events
outside of Europe, but the money is now channeled into general
promotional activities such as the EFP website (www.efp-online.com)
and PR advertising campaigns.
The activities of the EFP are financially supported by the EU's
MEDIA Program (up to 50% of the costs) and contributions by the
EFP member organizations. ”The financing of the EFP’s activities is
quite complex,“ Rose declares, ”we have around 30-40 financial
partners over the year and sponsors have become more and more
important as the public purse-strings are tied ever tighter.“
BIG VS. SMALL COUNTRIES
Of course, it is clear that the EFP’s membership is not a homogenous
mass and there might be a danger that the ’big countries’
muscle in and take over the running of the show to the detriment
of the ’smaller countries’.
One way of avoiding this is the fact that each paid up member
receives one vote in the assembly (the two Belgian agencies share
their vote) and the EFP staff are at pains to find a fine balance and
take the members’ respective interests very seriously.
”My many years of working at efdo helped me understand the cultural
differences of the European countries,“ Rose says. ”But since
we have had the EFP, there hasn’t really been any conflict that
would have jeopardized the membership of a country.“
It is a fact of life, though, that countries with a bigger production
output are statistically likely to have a larger presence at film festivals
and markets than ’smaller’ film lands. Thus, about a third of the
European films at this year’s Toronto Film Festival were from
France, while there was just one film each from Norway, Finland
and Greece.
”We are all competitors but have a loyalty amongst ourselves,“
notes Claudia Landsberger, who wears the hat of EFP president
as well as being managing director of Holland Film. ”Germany,
France and Spain always have more films in festivals, but they
are also happy when other countries get films invited.“
At the same time, it is worth remembering that there is no obligation
for EFP’s members to be involved in every one of its events
throughout the year. Indeed, they can pick and choose to come
onboard when it makes sense for the films or filmmakers.
For example, only 15 members of the 21 agencies were in Toronto;
there were 18 actors and actresses selected for this year’s
’Shooting Stars’ lineup; and only films from 10 member countries
could be picked for the ’Variety Critics’ Choice’ sidebar
in Karlovy Vary.
EFP CALENDAR
Over the five years of the EFP’s existence, a calendar of events has
developed where the organization prepares showcases or platforms
for European cinema at festivals and markets around the
globe.
kino 4 focus on european film promotion
2002 5
Claudia Landsberger