To help authors and audiovisual companies cope with the current health crisis, the French Centre National du Cinéma (CNC) adopted three emergency measures in early April.
Three steps have been taken.
First of all, the CNC will donate money for the emergency fund for authors created by the Société des Auteurs et Compositeurs Dramatiques. Secondly, any company experiencing cash-flow problems which can’t be solved solely with State grants, will be able to count on the support of the CNC.
The third measure concerns audience access to films. A reduction in the mandatory four-month gap between theatrical and DVD release has been granted to films being shown in cinemas when the lockdown began on March 14th. This applies to 31 films which can now become available on DVD and VOD
Of these 31 feature films, only two took advantage of the CNC’s offer: Monos by Alejandro Landes and Papi Sitter by Philippe Guillard. The other distributors hope to get a new release date for their films once confinement is over.
25 other films released in January and February will soon arrive on V.O.D. including Un Divan à Tunis by Manele Labidi, Adam by Maryam Touzani, and Des Hommes by Alice Odiot and Jean-Robert Viallet.
And then the four remaining films are making the most of the opportunity to prepare for their release, which should take place in the coming weeks: The Wild Goose Lake by Diao Yinan, Notre Dame by Valérie Donzelli and The Truth by Hirokazy Kore Eda are thus available.
The CNC press release insists on the exceptional nature of these measures and emphasises that they “in no way call into question the fundamental policy on the sequence of media release: they are simply geared, by way of exception and during this period of cinema closure and widespread lockdown, towards enabling the public to gain access to new films.”
Sources :
https://www.cnc.fr
https://cineuropa.org
