Venezuela has the largest proven oil reserves in the world. It was once so rich that Concorde used to fly from Caracas to Paris. But in the last three years its economy has collapsed. Hunger has gripped the nation for years. Now, it’s killing people and animals that are dying of starvation. The Venezuelan government knows, but won’t admit it!!! Four in five Venezuelans live in poverty. People queue for hours to buy food. Much of the time they go without. People are also dying from a lack of medicines. Inflation is at 82,766% and there are warnings it could exceed one million per cent by the end of this year. Venezuelans are trying to get out. The UN says 2.3 million people have fled the country - 7% of the population.
Showing posts with label Spain. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Spain. Show all posts

Sunday, November 17, 2013

E.U. Commission Re-ups And Expands Film Subsidies...


 E.U. Commission Re-ups And Expands Film Subsidies...

The E.U. has renewed its Communication Cinema policy comprising regulations for film subsidies

PARIS— European industry players have gotten their happy ending: The European Commission has finally reupped film subsidies and preserved territorial obligations following 18 months of intense lobbying from film boards and guilds.

Regrouped under the Communication Cinema policy, the regulations were first created in 2011 to level out state aids across Europe and prevent the subsidy race between countries.

The new policy still allows producers to raise up to 50% of their film budgets via subsidies, and it now considers eligible spendings related to script-writing, development, film distribution and film promotion (including film festivals). The previous text was only taking production costs into account.

"Aid to production alone risks stimulating the supply of audiovisual content without ensuring that the resulting audiovisual work is properly distributed and promoted," stated the E.U.. "It is therefore appropriate that aid may cover all aspects of film creation, from story concept to delivery to the audience. "

Another positive change, the aid is upped to 60% of the budgets for pan-European co-productions. Meanwhile, producers of smaller-budgeted films will be able to raise up to 80% of their budgets via subsidies.

A major victory for European industryites, the E.U. Commission opted to maintain territorial spending obligations – capped at 80% of the production budget — after initially claiming its intention to bent restrictions on the origin of goods, services or workers used by a production.

Member states will be able to require that producers spend the equivalent of 160% of the aid in their territory.

Led by France, the UK, Germany, Italy and Spain, E.U. states inject an estimated 3 billion Euros ($4 million) per year in film support, including $2.7 billion in grants and soft loans, and $1.3 billion in tax incentives. Film productions draw approximately $2.7 billion per year in state aid.

The stakes were high for the Euro film industry : At present, Europe's tax rebate programs generate an estimated $939 million every year ; and 80% of that amount is injected in European films, according to Patrick Lamassoure at Film France Commission.

While the E.U. acknowledged the fact that vidgames "may represent one of the fastest-growing form of mass media in the coming years," it didn't include them in the Communication Cinema policy.

"Not all games necessarily qualify as audiovisual works or cultural products. Therefore, the rules designed for film production cannot apply automatically to games," stated the E.U. Commission, adding that games which serve a cultural or educational purpose may be eligible to receive E.U. fundings.

Thank you Variety

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Friday, October 12, 2012

Europe boosts film tourism...


Europe boosts film tourism...

EuroScreen launches new website
By ROBERT MITCHELL

LONDON -- EuroScreen, a three-year Euros1.9 billion ($2.5 billion) cross-European film tourism initiative, launched its new website Tuesday.

The project, funded by the Interregional Cooperation Program (INTERREG IVC), has been created to improve policies between the production sector and tourism industry across eight European markets: U.K., Spain, Italy, Malta, Poland, Romania, Slovenia and Sweden.

Scheduled to run until 2014, EuroScreen will deliver research and data to improve the effectiveness of policies between the screen and tourism sectors, with the aim of achieving greater economic and cultural benefits for both.

Among other materials, the new EuroScreen website (www.euroscreen.org.uk) will offer visitors access to information about the latest news and developments in screen tourism, and provides downloadable policy material and other publications emerging from the project.

The U.K.'s Film London is the official lead partner for the initiative, working with international partners including the Apulia Film Commission in Italy, Bucharest -- Ilfov Regional Development Agency in Romania, FTZ -- Fondazzjoni Temi Zamit in Malta, RARR -- Rzeszow Regional Development Agency in Poland, the Municipality of Ystad and Lund University, Department of Service Management in Sweden, Maribor Development Agency in Slovenia and Pro Malaga -- Local Public Agency for Economic Development in Malaga, Spain.

The INTERREG IVC program is financed by the European Union's Regional Development Fund to help different areas of Europe to work together and to share experience and good practice in the areas of innovation, the knowledge economy, the environment and risk prevention.

Thank you Variety



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Thursday, August 18, 2011

Netflix to hit Spain and Britain in early 2012, also exploring other countries..

Netflix is gearing up to launch in Spain and Britain in the first half of 2012 and is exploring several other countries in Europe and Asia for later debuts, according to people briefed on the matter.

Chief Executive Reed Hastings has named international expansion as a key driver for Netflix's growth in the coming years. Though the company's 25-million-person subscriber base has been growing rapidly in the U.S. and Canada, that's expected to slow, particularly in light of a recent 60% price increase for people who watch video online and get DVDs through the mail that led to outrage among some customers.

Last year, the company launched its Internet streaming service in Canada and in July it announced it would go into 43 Latin American countries by the end of 2011.

Now Netflix is talking to studios about acquiring content rights to move into Spain and Britain in the first half of 2012. Though a move into Britain was previously expected, Spain will pose a unique challenge because piracy is rampant and unemployment is more than 20%, the highest in Europe. DVD sales are very low in the country and there is no real digital download business. Apple Inc.'s iTunes Store doesn't sell movies and TV shows in Spain.

The Spanish rollout will be a test of whether people used to watching movies at home for free will pay about $8 per month for content that's typically higher quality and easier to find than on piracy websites.
Netflix is negotiating with Hollywood studios to acquire digital rights to stream content in Spain. In addition, the president of a Spanish producers' association told ScreenDaily that the company has been in talks with local content makers as well.

With Britain and Spain on the agenda for the first half of 2012, Netflix is exploring other countries to move into later. Among those it has been analyzing, but not yet committed to launch in, are South Korea, the Netherlands, Belgium, Luxembourg and the Scandinavian nations, said people familiar with the situation who were not authorized to speak on the record.

A Netflix spokesman declined to comment.

As it examines new foreign markets, Netflix is seeking countries with high broadband Internet participation rates and popular content that is available to be licensed and not locked up in exclusive contracts with other distributors, the people close to the matter said.

Thank you Los Angeles Times


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Saturday, May 14, 2011

How a Fresh Wave of Young Film Talent Is Transforming the Spanish Film Sector...

Directors like Paco Cabezas and Alex and David Pastor, and producers Francisco Ramos and Pedro Uriol are revitalizing the region.
MADRID -- They are Spain's version of the Coen Brothers. They've been living in the United States for years where they made Carriers and have come home to Barcelona to film an apocalyptic thriller. Alex and David Pastor aren't Spanish film industry veterans. They are part of a surge in creativity currently rippling through the Spanish film industry.

Talented directors, well-connected producers and a world-class film school have combined to generate a wave of innovation that has audiences' attention.
"This is a generation that is going to give us a lot to talk about," says Pedro Uriol, who is producing the Pastors' upcoming The Last Days. "These young directors have travelled, they've lived abroad and they are skilled in new technology. They aren't intimidated by genre film and they understand audiences."
The timing couldn't be better. Spain, notorious for an embarrassingly small sliver of the box office quota for homegrown films, has lately seen Spanish films gaining ground. In the first quarter of this year, Spanish films took in 35.49 million euros, compared to 15.16 million from the same period in 2010. And Spanish films — largely thanks to the blockbuster effect of Santiago Segura's Torrente 4 — cornered 20 percent of the market, 11 points over the previous year.
Gone are the days when Spanish filmmakers longed to break the threshold of 1 million ticket sales — a coveted holy grail of popular approval. The number was bandied about in conversation like the glass ceiling that only a few privileged films could penetrate.
But now, every few months, Spain sees a homegrown hit cross the magic line, including recent releases like Three Meters Above Heaven, Julia's Eyes, To Hell With the Ugly, Agora and Cell 211.
So what changed? Mostly a shift in thinking: The new generation wants to reach as large an audience as possible, and isn't ashamed to admit it.
"Younger generations thrive on connection with audiences as they realize that movies are meant to be seen and enjoyed," says Francisco Ramos, producer of last year's sleeper Three Meters Above Heaven, which grossed 8.5 million euros.
And they realize they can only make the next movie if the last one works," Ramos, a producer with his finger on the pulse of Spanish pop culture, has a knack for steamy, urban films featuring current heartthrobs. Next up is Federico Gonzalez Molina's Tengo Ganas de Ti (I Want You). The young cast of Meters remains intact, with sex symbol Mario Casas starring opposite Maria Valverde.
But there's more than just the formula of hiring a young director and adding a hunky cast.
Spain has chiseled out a niche as a pioneer in genre films as well, with Barcelona now a hub of horror titles.
"Our films are not black and white. There is motion, real actors, a mix of genres. Even in genre, you have to care about the characters and there's got to be conflict beyond just good guys and bad guys. It becomes more interesting," explains Paco Cabezas, director of genre titles 2007's The Appeared and last year's Neon Flesh. "Risk is the key word. The key is to find someone to take risks and try to tell a different story, not just a remake."
Complicated bank financing, plummeting home entertainment revenue thanks to rampant piracy and the decline in theatrical admissions make financing tricky. Enter Spain's new financing structure involving the TV broadcasting sector, which skews subsidies toward bigger productions or arthouse/festival fare.
"With TV channels involved actively in production, many films are clearly targeted towards the audience and they come with a lot of marketing support," explains Adrian Guerra, of Versus Entertainment, producer of last year's Ryan Reynolds-starrer Buried.
TV channels are backing much of the top-tier projects, but they go hand-in-hand with an up-to-the-minute crop of business-minded producers that leverage talent and access international contacts.
"We have a new generation of filmmakers and producers that are making international films and can tap into international and studio finance and play to a global audience," adds Guerra.
This new breed of producers embraces risk, often seeing it as essential for success. Barcelona's Rodar y Rodar, which made a splash with The Orphanage and followed up with Guillem Morales' Julia's Eyes, not only boasts handsome box office figures and enviable international sales, but has earned a reputation for spotting fresh talent and nurturing it.
For Rodar y Rodar chief Joaquin Padro, part of Spain's creative wave should be credited to Catalonia's Film and Audiovisual School ESCAC.
"There's a group of young kids from the ESCAC that feed off each other and there's an infectious atmosphere of creativity and working in a group that is phenomenal," he observes. "We have fed off of these people and they are primed for crossing barriers. That's what makes the difference."
The ESCAC's four-year film degree forces filmmakers to think about the big picture.
"It's part of our students' DNA that films must be made for a specific audience," explains ESCAC director Josep Maixenchs.
And while, it may be premature to talk about ESCAC transforming the Spanish film industry, it is true that the model — which requires fourth year students to direct features through in-house production company Escandalo Films with an emphasis on operating with a business mentality — is closely being followed. Both Paris and London's film schools have started co-production projects with the ESCAC.
"I'm convinced there are three or four directors that haven't had the exposure of Pedro Almodovar or Alejandro Amenabar, but work for the international market in a big way," says Juan Gordon of Madrid-based Morena Films. "They've done three or four films, but haven't had the proper exposure."
For Gordon and other young producers the key is vision.
"As producers, we go beyond just financing. We're seeing more collaboration with the director throughout the entire process. It's vital to have an idea of where the film is going and how it's going to get there."

Thank you Hollywood Reporter

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Monday, March 28, 2011

Spanish Court Rules Digital Tax is Illegal...

Court says canon is illegal because of irregularities in the bureaucratic process.

MADRID -- Spain's National Court has ruled Spain's so-called digital canon, designed to compensate authors for revenue lost from private copy, is illegal because of irregularities in the bureaucratic process.

The court did not rule whether the controversial tax instated in 2003 on all electronics and CD, DVD and MP3 sales was legal, only that the process for collecting and distributing the funds did not follow pre-establish processes.

The ruling comes shortly after the EU's October ruling that Spain's digital canon was "indiscriminately applied" thus illegal.

Spain's Culture Minister, Angeles Gonzalez-Sinde, defended the digital tax.
"All it does is say that the 2008 order, which establishes the rates and the procedure for compensation, didn't follow the proper legislative procedure and has deficiencies," Gonzalez-Sinde said. "The ministry already has started working on this and the different sides have been meeting since January."
Critics of the tax argue it is outdated, confuses the consumer, is unequally applied and encourages piracy.
Spain's main opposition party has said it would eliminate the digital tax if elected.
"To remove the canon, first you would have to change the Intellectual Property Law, which we see more as a creative property norm. Present legislation is outdated because it was created for the context of the 1990s. There are other ways to compensate creators and we'll go even further. We won't just remove the indiscriminate application of the canon, but would change the overall management system of the authors' rights," the PP's Jose Maria Lassalle told Spanish daily El Pais.

Thank you Hollywood Reporter
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