FIAD welcomes Council Conclusions that support film distributors
Whilst the COVID-19 pandemic continues to damage the European cultural and creative sector it is imperative that the Member States send a strong signal that they support the European film sector and acknowledge in particular the importance of film distributors who acquire and promote films across Europe, thus contributing to Europe's cultural diversity and richness in the film sector.
In particular, FIAD welcomes the below extracts of the Conclusions (find here) adopted today by the EU Member States that supports FIAD's policy ambitions in bold:
Acknowledging the importance of film distributors:
o “The Council acknowledges that a vibrant independent theatrical and distribution sector, promotion of linguistic diversity and freedom of creation can have a major impact on achieving greater availability of the content and improved competitiveness for the audiovisual sector.”
o “ The Council invites the Member States and European Commission, within their respective competencies, to foster continuous support for the theatrical distribution of European works, including the support for smaller and independent distributors for the circulation of a large diversity of European films”
Promoting discoverability tools:
o “The Council invites the Member States and European Commission, within their respective competencies, to promote the development of efficient marketing tools and film audience strategies and strengthening media and film literacy, while considering audience analysis and expectation.”
o “In comparison to traditional ways of distribution, finding European works on VOD platforms can be challenging for consumers. It is therefore important to analyse the market and evaluate the effectiveness of the prominence measures”
o “Improve and facilitate the discoverability of legally available and creative content online in all the languages of the European Union, notably through online tools such as Agorateka, with the aim of making it easily identifiable among a vast array of other content.”
Maintaining territorial exclusivity:
o “The Council of the European Union underlines that territorial and exclusive licensing remains essential for the freedom of creation, for the sustainability and financing of the sector, as well as for providing the basis for the development of new business models.”
Supporting a level playing field:
o “The Council invites the Member States and European Commission, within their respective competencies, to promote licensing practices aimed at ensuring a more equitable relationship between VOD providers, platforms, independent producers and other right-holders across the value chain, and to foster the development of measures designed to enable transparent and comprehensive information on the use of audiovisual works in online services, including the possibility to access data on the overall views and territories.”
Tackling online piracy:
o “Take all the necessary measures to prevent the access to illegal audiovisual content at national and EU level, and to establish effective online enforcement against commercial-scale infringement.”
