Ayudas estatales para servicios de cine y audiovisuales. Una revisión sinóptica de principios clave y modelos de gobernanza en Europa y en el extranjero

• Author: Paul Clemens Murschetz, Roland Teichmann, Sameera Javed
• Position: University of Digital Sciences Berlin, Alemania/Österreichisches Filminstitut, Wien, Austria/Macromedia Hochschule, Munich, Alemania
• Pages: 181-200

Estudios del Desarrollo Social: Cuba y América Latina

www.revflacso.uh.cu

Estudios del Desarrollo Social: Cuba y América Latina

RPNS 2346 ISSN 2308-0132

Vol. 8, No. 1, Enero-Abril, 2020

State Aid for Film and Audiovisual Services. A Synoptic Review of Key

Principles and Governance Models in Europe and Abroad

Ayudas estatales para servicios de cine y audiovisuales. Una revisión

sinóptica de principios clave y modelos de gobernanza en Europa y en el

extranjero

Paul Clemens Murschetz

University of Digital Sciences Berlin, Alemania

0000-0001-6992-2685

murschetz@berlin-university.digital

Roland Teichmann

Österreichisches Filminstitut, Wien, Austria

0000-0001-8607-4067

Roland.Teichmann@filminstitut.at

Sameera Javed

Macromedia Hochschule, Munich, Alemania

0000-0001-8686-1300 Fecha de enviado: 27/07/2019

sjaved@stud.macromedia.de Fecha de aprobado: 03/10/2019

ABSTRACT: This study synoptically reviews scholarly and policy-related debates on key principles and governance frames

of the public policy of state aid fo r film and audiovisual services, in Europe and abroad. It addresses some important

challenges of policies of state aid to film, regarding the efficac y of funding models and principles. It also qualifies these

      -          

subsidies for film from various perspectives. Given the different methods in theorizing, development, realization, monitoring,

impact-measurement and evaluation of policy concepts, programs, institutions, instruments and impacts, this debate is not

only of interest for academics, but also for global policy makers in the field.

KEYWORDS: best-practice case study analysis, global models, government support, political economy of the media, public

film policy, state aid for film, synoptic review.

RESUMEN: Este estudio revisa sinópticamente debates académicos y relacionados con políticas sobre principios clave y

marcos de gobernanza de la política pública de ayuda estatal para servicios cinematográficos y audiovisuales, en Europa y

en el extranjero. Aborda algunos desafíos importantes de las políticas de ayuda estatal para filmar, con respecto a la

eficacia de los modelos y principios de financiación. También califica estos principios contra los modelos globales actuales

     te estudio desea ampliar la discusión sobre los subsidios públicos para el cine

desde varias perspectivas. Dados los diferentes métodos de teorización, desarrollo, realización, monitoreo, medición de

impacto y evaluación de conceptos de políticas, programa s, instituciones, instrumentos e impactos, este debate no solo es

de interés para los académicos, sino también para los formuladores de políticas globales en el campo.

PALABRAS CLAVE: anális is del estudio de caso de me jores prácticas, modelos globales, apoyo gubernamental,

economía política de los medios de comunicación, política de películas públicas, ayuda estatal para películas, revisión

sinóptica.

182

State Aid for Film and Audiovisual Services. A Synoptic Review of Key Principles and Governance Models in

Europe and Abroad pp. 181-200

Paul Clemens Murschetz, Roland Teichmann, Sameera Javed

Estudios del Desarrollo Social: Cuba y América Latina

RPNS 2346 ISSN 2308-0132 Vol. 8, No. 1, Enero-Abril, 2020

www.revflacso.uh.cu

This year, on August 23rd, the Cuban

government recognized independent filmmaking

as an independent art, and hence for the first

time legalized independent film production in the

country. This move effectively facilitates the work

of independent producers because they now

have received legal status and are recognized as

private-sector workers. They may also open bank

accounts to receive funds for producing a film.

In fact, when looking to state support for

filmmaking in Latin America, the countries with

the political will to support film legislation are the

ones that have historically had the strongest and

most stable film industriesArgentina, Brazil,

Chile, Colombia, Mexico and socialist countries

such as Venezuela and Cuba (Falicov, 2018a,

2018b).

Certainly, in an age characterized by a shift

from the study of national cinemas to that of

transnational and global formations, we might



when he argued that the concept of national

cinema is of vital importance when analysing

state policy, particularly as a means of promoting

cultural diversity and attending to national

specificity (Crane, 2013; Hill & Kawashima,

2016).

Indeed, state support for film is not a new

concept. There are plenty of examples around

the world where governments keep on financially

supporting film as an artform in the public

interestideally without wielding editorial

influence on the creators of these works.

In Europe, state aid for film policy has

undergone different phases: from establishing

automatic film aid mechanisms (1950-1957), to

the development of selective film aid schemes

(1959-1981), to the first wave of regional aid

development (1980s), to the emergence of

broader aid for audiovisual production (1980s), to

the search for a new balance between cultural

and economic objectives as a fifth phase (Lange

& Westcott, 2004).

Direct cash support through film funds,

indirect fiscal incentives schemes, and

     

to financially source otherssuch as public-

service broadcasting to refund film producers

have ever been the most popular instruments

applied.1

And yet, despite state aid for film production,

distribution and exhibition having claimed the

  

nations across the globe, notably in Europe, the

public policy of state aid for film remains a

contested terrain, stricken with many challenges

and threats to industry, filmmakers and

government administration. Today, the policy

practice of handing out film subsidies is more

challenged than ever before. While many state

authorities in Europe continue to subsidize film

as a genuine cultural asset, worthy of political

protection, they seem to slip into the horns of a

fundamental dilemma. On the one side, their

schemes reflect the vision to strengthen artistic

talent and creativity, safeguard cultural diversity,

foster cultural integration, and improve the

economic wealth of the film industry and its

stakeholders at large. On the other side,

however, they face a legitimacy crisis as these

schemes are perceived as being inefficiently

allocated, unfairly distributed, bureaucratically

organized, and, worse so, they are said to help

little to future changes needed to get film media

adapt to new market needs of digitization and

online streaming.

Critics claim that subsidies are most

principally a controversial means to regulate film

media markets and seem to have an in-built bias

toward failure in that they: