Spanish Movie Industry Aid Approved
January 27th, 2010
The European Commission has given the green light to government funding of the Spanish movie industry, which is to be granted 576 million euros until the 31st of December 2015, and which includes measures to support the production and distribution of Spanish based movies .
The EU executive ruled that the scheme is compatible with EU Treaty rules that allow subsidies to “promote cultural objectives under certain conditions”, and also conforms to the guidelines on aid to the movie industry.
“I congratulate the Spanish authorities on directing aid to help increase the diversity of films available for the Spanish public. This system should enhance the visibility and popularity of independent Spanish films, not only in Spain but throughout the world, without creating unfair competition,” said EU Competition Commissioner, Neelie Kroes.
The Commission concluded that complaints sent by the group ‘Filmmakers Against Order’ were unfounded, they claimed that aid would only benefit large productions at the expense of independent filmmakers. The complaint has caused the temporary suspension of aid for 2010. The complaint specifically alleged that there is no support for movies with budgets of less than 600,000 euros and that no preferential treatment should be given to women filmmakers.
However, the Commission found that films with budgets of less than 600,000 euros “can benefit from targeted support and are already part of the automatic support in the existing structure.” Furthermore, “there is no legislation that requires that half of the films must be written or directed by women filmmakers.
The Spanish system includes automatic and selective measures that the authorities believe are necessary to achieve their objective of preserving cultural and linguistic diversity among the films available for the Spanish and European public. Selective support “is intended to assist art house films, while the automatic support aims to encourage independent producers to make films rooted in Spanish or European culture,” explained Community executive. In 2008, American films accounted 71.5% of the Spanish market.
