EFA CINEMA OF TOMORROW CONFERENCE & EUROPEAN PRODUCERS CLUB CO-PRODUCTION FORUM

by Beatrix A. Milburn funded by a bursary from Plymouth Media-Partnership

The European Film Academy hosted the Co-Production Forum and Cinema of Tomorrow conference alongside their annual awards ceremony.  The event was held for the first time in Warsaw, Poland from 1-3 December 2006.

The Co-Production Forum focussed on a tour of Eastern Europe, outlining perspectives from Poland, Hungary, the Czech Republic and Romania.  The Forum covered changes in film law, tax incentives and co-producing with these countries.  In the afternoon, one-to-one meetings were held between producers and funding partners.  There are many more opportunities than there were and the conditions are in many ways easier to negotiate than 10 years ago yet, as with all film-making, there are multiple hurdles.  It is good to see the former Eastern bloc countries taking a more active part in Europe and reasserting their identities.

There was a presentation from PRIME (Packaging-Rewriting- International – Market – Exchange).  PRIME is unique amidst the various MEDIA Programme training courses in combining project development with targeted approaches to financing.  This stops the training being in a theoretical vacuum.  By bringing expert knowledge of script development, market research, world sales, distribution, funding and games/interactive media, PRIME seems very beneficial in mentoring the development process and extending the network of potential partners.

PRIME works in direct co-operation with public funding bodies and industry partners throughout Europe on a regional, national and international level.  Ten projects are accepted onto this initiative each year.  Though there was a central European bias to the 2006 projects, it would seem an interesting initiative to develop a project with co-production potential.  (www.prime-net.biz)

On Friday evening, the EFA hosted a reception and on Saturday, the Cinema of Tomorrow Conference included keynote speeches from Nik Powell (head of the National Film and TV School, UK) and Wim Wenders (director).  It was chaired by Peter Cowie, a film historian.

The morning theme was the “Ups and Downs In the World of Cinema” where the panel discussed success and failure, and the urge to make films.  In the afternoon, “the Challenge of Making Films in a Digital Society” was explored and the panel discussed the impact of modern technology on artistic expression.  Film-makers from Germany, Poland, Spain, Croatia, Russia, Hungary, Belgium, Israel, Bosniz-Herzegovina were on the panel.  The common theme is always money, not enough of it and the difficulty of accessing it. 

The discussions ranged over changes in writing style, how funders increasingly are wanting “teams” of writers and how this compromises an individual telling his/her story.  Training in different film schools was discussed, the purpose of short films, the efforts of getting the first feature film made, the problems of producing in different countries, economics, politics, how the audience for films has been destroyed by TV and how festival success often doesn’t translate to box office success. 

Censorship was discussed, not just in political but financial terms, and how funding is increasingly dictating that your film addresses a mass market.  Peter Cowie observed that the best films have often been made when reacting to censorship, citing Milos Forman’s early work in Czechoslovakia.  Style was discussed, how a film with universal images will work, and the difficulties of sub-titling and dubbing and the intolerance of audiences from majority language countries.  Everyone agreed that it was still important to use one’s own langugage and fight for individual cultures.

There was further discussion about whether you take big money with compromises, or make your film with more integrity on a shoestring.  The directors protested how producers are always more important, that the business side of film dominates the creative, and how producers regularly meet and share notes yet directors rarely do.

The EFA awards ceremony took place in the evening.  It was very interesting to really think about why certain films had been nominated, how and why people had judged their respective virtues, and to see whom was honoured.   It was also useful to really listen and learn from some of the wisdom in the acceptance speeches.

Wim Wenders urged film-makers to tell specific stories, to remember where you are from and never forget who you are.  Pedro Almodovar won the “Audience” award and said: “Without my audience, I would be nothing.”   Jeremy Thomas and Roman Polanksi were both honoured with lifetime achievement awards and Andrej Wajda, the Polish director now in his 80’s, was also honoured.  The winner for screenwriting spoke of the three and a half years it had taken him to research and write this screenplay, and how some of that time he’d lived in a monastery in order to really concentrate.  The documentary winner spoke of the twenty years it had taken him to make the film.  It is humbling and inspiring to hear these people who have wholly dedicated their lives to cinema.

There are comments that the EFA has an identity crisis – it doesn’t know whether to be more glamourous like Hollywood or reflect very serious artistic values.  I think this is true and it’s a fine line to combine both.  The EFA also reflects the anomalies of a united Europe.  We are the same and we are very different.

In conclusion, making films certainly doesn’t get any easier but then no-one ever promised it was easy.  Digital technology enables films of a certain type to be made more cheaply and will totally alter future distribution systems.  However, the need to tell a good story, communicate clearly and entertain an audience remains.  Seeing the great directors there and thinking about their body of work, they deal in deep and universal truths.  About the human condition and the worlds we live in.  European culture continues to resist turning this into easily-digestible Macdonalds hamburger. 

I came away thinking very carefully about the stories I am working on.  What are they really about, who are they for, how best to tell them, the urgency of telling them, and to be sure that I have really done my work, honouring the task as writer, before starting the long adventure of making them.  It also made me think about how the themes and subjects I am dealing with will speak to audiences in different corners of Europe.

This weekend was refreshing and inspiring.  It was an excelllent networking opportunity.  I met colleagues I haven’t seen in many years and made many useful new contacts.  Already I am exchanging ideas and information with people, opening up the projects and people I am working with here in Cornwall to those in all corners of Europe. Co-production is an intricate and involved process but it enables some very special films to be made with some tremendous people.  

Report submitted by Beatrix A. Milburn