At 65^th San Sebastian Film Festival, the European Film Agency Directors (EFADs) and the Conference of Ibero-American Cinematographic Authorities (CAACI) took a step forward on its way towards a more structured cooperation. They published a common statement on the promotion and preservation of film diversity and territoriality, in the light of the digital changes. The EFADs and CAACI also awarded their Co-Development Grant for the second time running to the project El Agente Topo (The Mole Agent).

EFADs and CAACI’s common vision for fostering Euro-Latino cooperation

During a workshop on 25^th September, EFADs and CAACI adopted a statement outlining a common vision for cinematography. The statement puts forward eight key actions and recommendations to protect and strengthen collaboration between Europe and Latin America.

“The audiovisual sectors of Europe and Latin America face similar problems in the digital age. The EFADs and CAACI are collaborating to address these issues and the statement published today reflects our common vision for deepening our long history of collaboration.”

“We are proud of our Euro-Latino co-productions and we want these works to be distributed in each other’s continents. However, we need to take concrete steps to promote this and to create an environment which strengthens, not weakens our ties. This should include the development of online platforms which provide diverse content and a level playing field online for all operators,” said CAACI Director, Adelfa Martínez.

In the statement, the film agencies also outline their concerns about three European Union actions. The regulation on online transmissions (COM(2016)594), regulation on geo-blocking (COM(2016)289) and competition case into cross-border access to pay-TV (AT.40023) would undermine the sale of rights territory-by-territory, weakening investment in films. This will lead to fewer co-production and distribution of Euro-Latino works.

“We will continue to cooperate with the European institutions to promote cultural diversity. This requires a legislative framework designed to help our audiovisual sectors adapt to the digital age.” explained EFADs President Peter Dinges.

EFADs and CAACI’s Co-Development Grant awarded for the second year running

On 27^th September, the EFADs and CAACI awarded their joint grant for the second year running in the 6^th Europe-Latin America Co-Production Forum. The €20,000 is designed to foster collaboration and artistic co-productions between Europe and Latin America.

The winner of the grant was the project El Agente Topo (The Mole Agent), a co-production between Chile, France and the USA. The project is a highly original documentary and detective story produced by Marcela Santibañez from Micromundo Producciones (Chile-France-USA).

The project was selected by a jury consisting of Martin Rodríguez Castillo from the Council of Art and the Audiovisual Industry of Chile (CAACI), Ilse Hughan from Fortuna Films (Festival San Sebastián), and Silje Riise Næss from the Norwegian Film Institute (EFADs).

Please find the statement in English here and Spanish here.