Playing Against The Big Boys

There's a moving scene in Blind Spot, the debut feature from Slovenian director Hanna A.W. Slak, in which a young woman nurses her brother through heroin withdrawal, cradling his head in her arms and soothing him with stories of their childhood. The room dissolves into a bright memory of them holding hands on a rooftop, the older brother telling his sister to jump, trust him, everything will be O.K. It's a tender moment in a dark, intimate film about courage in the face of hopelessness. Carried by two engaging leads and bold cinematography that soaks every shot in sweat, Blind Spot is better than most films playing in a theater near you. But you'll probably never get a chance to see it.

With the Academy Awards — Hollywood's annual celebration of global dominance — now come and gone, it's worth considering why trade in so many European films is at a standstill. Only one-third of the films produced in Europe ever make it outside their home borders. Between 1996 and 2003, only about 50 European-made films were distributed in 12 or more E.U. countries. By contrast, around half of the approximately 550 U.S. feature films produced every year hit European screens. Although co-distribution deals between countries are sprouting up everywhere — Italy's state film department is in talks with Britain and France about setting up a reciprocal accord — Europe still has no organized distribution network.

Cinema may have been invented in Europe, but since the advent of talking pictures, Hollywood has reigned supreme. That global domination of the $52 billion cinema industry now relies on a vicious economic cycle: as the cost of filmmaking rises, studios balance the checkbook by casting their nets wider, showing their films in more countries to more paying customers; movies become high-tech spectacles and stars demand higher salaries; and so the cost of filmmaking rises, and the cycle begins anew. Europe's industry — with its dependence on dubbing or subtitling for foreign audiences, its vastly differing cultural tones (what makes the French laugh is often lost on the Germans), and its relatively tiny purse — simply can't compete. And that's why many industry insiders are calling for a revolution in the way films are funded and distributed. In France, Italy and Germany, new laws pledge more support to films with mass appeal. Fresh alliances such as Indie Circle — a consortium of A-Films (the Netherlands), Cinéart (Belgium), Frenetic Films (Switzerland), Haut et Court (France) and Lucky Red (Italy) — have been launched to help get more films into more territories.

Part of the challenge comes from a film culture that has resisted commercialization. In order to grab a bigger slice of Europe's box-office takings (which in 2002 were €5.6 billion), directors and producers need to better understand the business of moviemaking. "It's the perpetual struggle between art and commerce," says Colin Vaines, executive vice president of European production and development at Miramax. "In Europe, where there is such an auteurist culture — the director is king or queen and they drive everything along — it isn't always possible to contemplate the marketplace alongside the art."

It's not as if European cinema lacks funds; on the contrary, many European films are government-subsidized in ways that Hollywood can only envy. France — Europe's largest producer thanks to a bevy of national, regional and European subsidies along with investment from cable TV station Canal Plus — makes an average of 200 films a year. Between 1994 and March 2003, the Italian government spent €340 million on 232 films (although those films grossed a mere €73 million at Italy's box offices). The German Federal Film Board has around €75 million to play with. And in Britain, the U.K. Film Council spends its annual budget of around $110 million on everything from big-budget co-productions to digital projection. After investing some $24 million in 20 films between 2000 and 2003, it saw them bring in $230 million at the box office. It could be a while, though, before Britain enjoys such dynamic numbers again. In February, the Inland Revenue got rid of a tax break that gave relief to film investors — who spent over $2 billion in the country last year — effectively cutting off millions in funding for current projects.