ITALIANA - AIC Associazione Italiana Autori della Fotografia ...

AIC—
DANILO
Europa!
-M-* f
Europa!
f
Un 'atmosfera densa di attese e
di speranze circonda la grande
sfida del 1992: il rilancio del
cinema europeo.
It is with great excitement, and full of hope, that we face the big challenge
of 1992: the re-launch of European Cinema. A challenge that will entail
our having to counter the massive invasion of two forces which, so far, no
one has been able to stop: on the one hand, television, whose strength lies
in the capital it earns from publicity; and, on the other, the American
Cinema, whose main weapon is its ability to penetrate foreign markets.
Obviously, these two "problems" are linked, and one is a product of the
other.
Up until now, in fact, European cinema producers have been obliged to
resort to public and private television investment to finance their films,
as they themselves were unable to do this due to the restricted national
markets and European competition But by doing it, they have
stimulated television's desire to conquer an even vaster public, which it
does by luring them away from the cinemas with films from the current
year that are ever more recent, but which are reduced to pale copies of
themselves by the small screen, and the cuts demanded by sponsors who
are sacred.
On the other hand, there weren't many alternatives: the few
coproductions that were embarked upon always encountered endless
difficulties when it came to getting the parties involved to agree on what
was supposed to be a joint project As well as this, Producers were limited
by the fact that the American market was closed to them, the excuse being
that it was impossible to dub the films, which is nothing more than
adopting a policy of protectionism, and reduces the European cinema
public in America to an elite that is ill-disposed towards subtitles which
are disracting, often misleading, and not liked generally.
Europe, in its turn, has almost always submitted passively to a constant
bombardment of American product, mythicizing it to such an extent that
Una sfida il cui obiettivo è quello
di contrastare l'avanzata
massiccia di due forze finora
inarrestabili: da una parte la
televisione, forte dei capitali che
le provengono dalla pubblicità,
dall'altra la cinematografia
statunitense, forte
European distributors often choose to buy the worst quality American
product rather than distribute European films which, if not always Oscar
material, are certainly well-made and viable products.
In this sense, the unification of Europe should offer us a double benefit
the possiblity of making films capable of competing with those of our
American rivals, without our having to depend on capital from T.V.
publicity to finance them and, therefore, not having to compromise on
quality.
The risks involved in what Europe, with her ancient culture, is now
capable of realizing, are basically two: first, there is the risk that we will
dumbly try and imitate American films — something that has been done
all to often in the past — proposing stories and ideas which are expressed
in a manner that in no way relates to the cultural, social ot ethnic reality
of the various European nations, and results in nothing Cinema, which
is unacceptable artistically, and lacks quality. The second risk is that the
individual countries will be unable to dominate their nationalistic
tendencies, each determined to preserve — and assert — their identity and,
therefore, not always disposed to received outside stimuli — possibly
because they fear domination, or losing control
Perhaps, it is precisely the Italian Cinema that can help the new Europe
overcome these unproductive tendencies, as we have always been
prepared to exchange ideas and collaborate, so that the right situation
might be created, for projects to be born which are finally competitive as
regards quality, as well as on all other levels.
Being aware of this, European Governments themselves should, given the
seriousness of the situation, encourage the "united" Cinema with new
incentives (not paternalistic ones, like subsidies) but constructive
financial incentives such as tax exemption, quality awards, compulsory