Canada’s film industry will have to adjust to major changes on the European coproduction scene. That is one of the key messages to emerge at Immersion 2002: Europe, a feature film coproduction and financing networking program held last month in Paris and produced by Telefilm Canada. Thirty-four Canadian producers participated in this year’s program (65 applied), joined for the first time by 45 European film producers.

Sheila de La Varende, director of Telefilm’s European office, says there has been a recent wave of ‘inter-European distribution’ successes. ‘Yet that’s not sufficient. European producers now realize that with closer links to Canada we can think about more effective distribution strategies worldwide.’

European producers are scrambling to develop multilateral inter-E.U. strategies, in large measure the result of a decline in film financing in the major markets, a 40% drop in ’02 in the U.K. alone.

‘There is much greater emphasis on developing real coproduction ties, not just co-distribution or [general] areas of international cooperation. It’s a vital reality right now,’ says de La Varende, who is also Telefilm’s director, international development and promotion.

Telefilm executive director Richard Stursberg says it’s time to take new action on the changing European coproduction front and ensure Canada is not shut out.

‘Coproduction should be a priority for us in the new year, and we need a better-targeted strategy,’ says Stursberg. ‘I think we have to recognize that of the 60 or more coproduction treaties, two are especially important France and the U.K.’

As the industry adjusts to the new multilateral environment in Europe, it will have to avoid being blindsided.

A case in point: a new and potentially devastating proposal on the part of the U.K.’s Department of Culture, Media and Sports to introduce a minimum threshold of 40% for coproduction financing (currently 20%), with specific expenditure requirements in the U.K.

DCMS has called for comments, with a plan to implement the new regulations by the end of March 2003.

The CFTPA has written to DCMS, and a Canadian delegation, with representation from Telefilm and Canadian Heritage, will meet with British producers, and likely, the U.K. regulatory authorities.

The DCMS proposals are aimed at increasing spending in the U.K., and come at a time when the U.K. Film Council is advancing a significantly more industrial, distribution-led model for the British film industry.

CFTPA EVP Guy Mayson says the Canadian industry ‘is sensitive to imbalance issues,’ but coproduction with the U.K. already was dealt a stunning blow by last year’s tax changes, specifically the elimination of the sale-and-leaseback financing option for TV coproductions.

Immersion: Europe 2002

The Immersion: Europe 2002 program (organized by Julie Bergeron of Vision-in-Motion, Paris) included sessions on Euro-wide trends and perspectives, casting and talent, pitch sessions and micro-meetings with European industry leaders, a panel on the ‘long and difficult process of making’ David Cronenberg’s Spider, and a CFTPA-sponsored overview of coproducing with Canada.

De La Varende says the presence of high-profile decision-makers from Europe is a ‘precious’ networking resource for the Canadian industry. ‘And nobody came and left. Whether they were from the BBC or Canal+ or TF 1 International, they all stayed at least two days, giving time for producers to meet with them on a collective basis and on a more personal basis.’

Invited speakers included Michel Reilhac, ARTE-France Cinema; Alain Sussfeld, executive-director, UGC, France; and Henry Ingberg, secretary-general Centre du cinema et de l’audiovisuel, Communaute francaise de Belgique.

Raymond Chretien, Canada’s ambassador to France, and Alliance Atlantis Communications hosted a delegates reception at the ambassador’s residence.

Immersion participants were invited to a screening of Manon Briand’s La Turbulence des fluides, the closing-night program at Cinema du Quebec a Paris, the SODEC export showcase.

A list of Canadian and European participants at Immersion: Europe 2002 is available on the Telefilm website.

-www.telefilm.gc.ca