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France
keen on closer movie ties with India
By
Amitabh Parashar
NEW DELHI: In order to develop the collaboration with film
directors of developing countries and to encourage the production
of films with a strong cultural identity, the Government of
France (France) through its Ministry of Foreign Affairs and
Ministry of Culture has been providing ‘selective grants’
for the production of feature films.
Mrinal Sen’s Genesis, Ketan Mehta’s Maya, Mani Kaul’s
Naukar Ki Kameez, and more recently, Rajan Khosa’s Dance
With the Wind, Sudhanshu Mishra’s Twist With Destiny
and Nilita Vachchani’s Barghad Ke Neeche are some of
the acclaimed Indian films made with French funding.
And the man who is currently responsible for all this also
heads the audio visual department in the French Ministry of
External Affairs, Jean-Claude Moyret.
For Moyret, the cultural identity of a country is the most
important thing and he appreciates India for protecting its
age-old cultural heritage and tradition. Increasing Hollywood
presence in French cinema is one subject which he discusses
in great detail, mainly because it worries him most. He says
that India and France are the two countries which have resisted
Hollywood imperialism for long.
But in India, Hollywood accounts for not more than 10 percent
of total films released in a year, whereas in France, the
share of American film is above 55 per cent.
Says Moyret “We tried to be hard with Hollywood films
in France and succeeded till 1984-85. But in 1986, the market
share of American films in France became higher than that
of French movies.”
French cinema’s share in France is just 30 percent. American
films are at the top with 55 percent, with the remaining 15
percent taken up by European films.
Now they have framed a rule according to which 60 percent
films shown on French TV must be European, out of which 40
percent must be French. The remaining 40 percent may be American
or of any other country.
Moyret says that because of the cultural similarities between
Indian and France, French films will be popular in India.
Moyret wants more interaction between India and France in
the audio-visual area. He is also interested in working towards
co-productions between India and France in the area of films.
But before attempting it on a larger scale, he wants professionals
from both countries to meet on a single platform.
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