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Martin Dawson, Deputy Head of Unit "Audiovisual Industry and Media Support Programmes" DG CONNECT of the European Commission, said Monday that the European audiovisual and cinema policy will focus in the upcoming period on distribution and promotion.
We want to focus more on distribution and promotion. Here's what we believe are the important parts of the puzzle. There are also other very important actors: Eurimages and cinematographic centers at the national level. Supporting production is extremely important, but we need to analyze the situation and to realize that we all need to focus more on distribution and promotion. I think we can have more impact if we unlock the power of collaboration and networking. We think we need evolution, not revolution. So we have to continue to provide support, to contribute to the development of our production from the start, but we need to improve the way we do it by adequately supporting collaboration, Dawson told the conference titled "Strengthening European Cooperation through Co-Productions" organized in Bucharest.
He said he appreciates the Transylvania International Film Festival - TIFF, "which we proudly support."
Martin Dawson said that an online Video On Demand (VOD) platform, through which only European films could be viewed, "a kind of European Netflix", is currently not possible for financial reasons. He added he proposed to the European Commission a 30 percent increase in budget so that it can reach 1.1 billion euro in a seven-year period, from 2021 to 2027.
Roberto Olla, Chief Executive Officer Eurimages, advocated for "quality, innovative, but publicly-acclaimed films," while Christine Eloy, general manager of Europa Distribution, argued that European film production must adapt to the regional public.
Petar Mitric, co-founder of the Co-Production Research Network (CoRN), also supported the idea of placing greater emphasis on the distribution of European films, advocating for "literacy campaigns" on European film and a European VOD platform.
In the same context, film director Cristian Mungiu, managing director of the Les Filmes de Cannes a Bucharest festival, said that "there cannot be a VOD platform at European level as long as we do not have an anti-piracy policy."
The conference "Strengthening European Cooperation through Co-Productions", which takes place on Monday and Tuesday in Bucharest, aims to present the fundamental elements that have contributed to the creation of the current film landscape of co-productions and to explore new ways of collaboration in order to increase the competitiveness of the European audiovisual sector, as well as the valorisation of European quality productions, the Ministry of Culture and National Identity states.
