Liberté,
Egalité, Fraternité!
by John Fithian
NATO President
I recently attended and addressed the 60th
Exhibitors Congress of the Fédération Nationale
des Cinémas Francais (FNCF) in Deauville, France.
Throughout a lovely and educational week of
seminars, trailers, trade floor activities, awards presentations
and one-on-one
conversations with French exhibitors, I was struck by one
consistent theme. Regardless of nationality or political
differences, cinema operators share common passions and fears,
and confront the same challenges. Except for the language
being spoken, and the extraordinary food (and wine) being
consumed, I could have been at ShoWest in Las Vegas, CinemaExpo
in Amsterdam, or even CineAsia for that matter. The trip
only reinforced my drive to help bring cinema owners of the
world together into a cohesive, coordinated force.
The esteemed president of the FNCF, Jean Labé, and
his accomplished staff graciously invited me to join their
wonderful convention, along with other international cinema
association leaders – including Ad Westrate (president
of the Union Internationale des Cinémas (UNIC) as
well as the Dutch Exhibitors Association), Jan van Dommelen
(honorary president of UNIC), John Wilkinson (president of
the Cinema Exhibitors Association in Great Britain), Kim
Pedersen (president of the Danish Cinema Association), Lene
Loken (president of the Norwegian association Film & Kino),
Rafael Alvero (general secretary of the Spanish federation)
and Kurt Kaufmann (general secretary of the Austrian association).
Jean’s invitations reflected the globalization of our
industry and our challenges.
In a seminar moderated by our friend Olivier
Snanoudj, Jean, Ad and I discussed three issues of significant
importance
to our collective industry – digital cinema, movie
theft, and release windows. A lively question and answer
session with the audience confirmed the theme of the week – our
commonalities greatly exceed our differences.
On digital cinema, exhibitors emphasized the
importance of standardized technologies, high quality levels,
and fair
business models. Like their American counterparts, French
operators appreciate that “getting it right” is
more important for our industry and our patrons than simply “getting
it done.” French government representatives in attendance
at the convention (including Veronique Cayla, head of the
Centre National de la Cinématographie, and culture
minister Renaud Donnedieu) also expressed their support for
a fair and appropriate conversion.
Movie theft troubles our French colleagues
just as it concerns our North American members. In a long
and fruitful dinner
conversation with Nicholas Seydoux (CEO of production/distribution
powerhouse Gaumont, and owner of EuroPalaces, the largest
French exhibitor), I grew to understand French passion for
the art form of movies, and the determination they have to
protect their enterprise for the sake of their patrons. With
Nicholas’ leadership, the French production, distribution,
exhibition and retail industries have joined forces with
the government in an aggressive and comprehensive action
plan to fight movie piracy. With a strong domestic movie
production base that isn’t simply dominated by Hollywood
product, the French have as much at stake as do Americans.
As for release windows, we also share common
views even though we operate in different legal regimes.
In France, strict
windows for theatrical, DVD, pay-per-view and broadcast are
governed by law. Studios cannot decide unilaterally to release
movies in the cinema and on DVD at the same time in Gaul.
Nonetheless, our French exhibitor counterparts follow closely
the debate on this topic in the United States, knowing that
pressure on release patterns here may eventually affect their
own operations.
Beyond those three topics, the convention
also served to facilitate the exhibitor business in other
familiar ways.
Distribution companies offered a full day (eight hours!)
of trailers and discussions about upcoming product, with
the support of such luminaries as Tommy Lee Jones. As we
do in state-side conventions, the FNCF appreciates the importance
of exhibitor relationships with the creative community. They
paid tribute to Jacques Perrin, producer of the 2004 hit “Les
Choristes.” (On a personal note, I mentioned to Jacques
that another of his movies – “Winged Migration,” a
movie once shown during ShoWest’s “independent
night” – stands as my bird-loving mother’s
all-time favorite film. “Your mother has good taste,” was
his very appropriate reply.)
As I left Deauville to hustle back
to the states for ShowEast 2005 preparation, I thanked
our French
colleagues for their
outreach and their hospitality. We agreed in parting
that our respective members all share a common passion for
this
magical industry of ours.
