European Filmmakers appeal for Cultural Exception at the Cannes Film Festival

CANNES – “We, European filmmakers, directors, and screenwriters, work in a unique context. Our films reflect European cultures in all their diversity and specificity. Our images, our languages, and our stories are our wealth. Our history, both past and present, is the fertile ground for our works. Today, we ask for a Europe of Culture! The reason is that this culture is at risk, as well as cinema and audiovisual industries.” This is the call launched at Cannes and signed by European filmmakers’ associations, including the Italian 100autori and Anac, in a joint statement reinforced by their decision to join the montée des marches at the Cannes Film Festival with French Minister of Culture Rachida Dati.

“We ask that the legislation and support mechanisms of the European Union continue to recognize and frame cinema and audiovisual as cultural sectors, including their commercial dimension, while maintaining the principle of Cultural Exception. In Europe, every film is a prototype, a unique proposal that does not necessarily respond to market demand. This has never prevented great commercial successes. This is how we view the Seventh Art: as an art, a risk, a constantly renewed proposal, and as an industry, that provides jobs for thousands of Europeans. These principles have made us very competitive: European cinema is the third largest in the world and the first in terms of co-productions involving filmmakers, directors, and screenwriters from other continents.”