European film is an important industry supported by the European Union through various instruments. It is also a vital part of cultural heritage and could be promoted more effectively to reach audiences eager to engage with it.
Film is a powerful medium for expressing cultural and social meanings, discussing political ideas and values, and driving economic growth. Since its foundation, the European Union (EU) has recognised and sought to exploit the potential of European film for such purposes. The EU also regards European film as a cultural heritage to be preserved and passed on to the future.
EU cultural policy is based on intertwined cultural, political, and economic interests. Since 1991, the EU has been supporting the European film industry through the Creative Europe MEDIA programme to encourage the development, distribution, and promotion of European audiovisual works.
The main challenges for the European film industry have been the low circulation of European films outside their countries of production and its low competitiveness compared to the US film industry.
The challenge is real and difficult to address. For example, in the EU Strategy on European Film in the Digital Era, the European Commission noted that 63% of all films released in the EU in 2012 were European, but only 33% of admissions were to European films. Meanwhile, US productions accounted for 20% of releases and 65% of admissions. Over the past decade, there hasn’t been much change in the productivity and circulation of European films, despite EU support. The market share of US productions in the EU was 58% in 2021 and 63% in 2022.
To increase the competitiveness of the European film industry, the European Commission is funding research projects to provide a comprehensive understanding of the industry and different perspectives on its challenges. The REBOOT project seeks to identify the strengths and gaps in the competitiveness of the European film industry and to explore emerging audiences.
The heritage meanings can inspire audiences and thus be used to promote European films. However, there are several challenges involved.
Multiple objectives of EU film policy
The EU approaches and regulates the European film industry from different and sometimes contradictory perspectives. The first decade of EU audiovisual policy focused on the integration of the European film market on the one hand, and the celebration of cinematic art by emphasising its cultural and linguistic diversity on the other. This balancing act between commerce and art, as described by Anna Herold, Head of the European Commission’s Audiovisual and Media Services Policy Unit, has recently been extended to other policy objectives.
EU film policy has increasingly emphasised the twin goals of strengthening the competitiveness of the European film industry and using European film as a tool in the EU’s external relations.
Over the past decade, EU film policy has increasingly emphasised the twin goals of strengthening the competitiveness of the European film industry in Europe and beyond and using European film as a tool in the EU’s external relations. This emphasis has expanded the EU’s film policy balancing act to include new components, global competitiveness and public diplomacy.
In addition, identity policy goals have from the very beginning encompassed EU film policy, as well as EU cultural policy in general. Such policies seek to promote the idea of Europe as a cultural and value-based space. The Creative Europe programme, for example, states in its first two sentences that “cultural and creative sectors are part of European identity” and that their expressions manifest, among other things, common values.
Film as Europe’s cultural heritage
EU policy considers film as an important European cultural heritage that manifests the cultural diversity of Europeans and allows to learn about the continent’s past. Therefore, the EU has developed policies to protect this heritage.
As early as 2004, the European Commission stated in its communication on the legal aspects of cinematographic and other audiovisual works: “In order to ensure that the European film heritage is passed down to future generations, it has to be systematically collected, catalogued, preserved and restored.” In this regard, the Commission recommended the establishment in each Member State of special institutes for the preservation and promotion of film heritage at national level.
The EU’s interest in preserving Europe’s film heritage has been closely linked to the goal of increasing access to audiovisual content through digitisation.
The EU’s interest in preserving Europe’s film heritage has been closely linked to the goal of increasing access to audiovisual content through digitisation. Throughout the 2000s, the EU has sought to remove various technical and legal barriers to digitised cultural content and to increase access to cultural heritage through digital technologies and shared platforms. The first of these platforms, Europeana, was launched in 2008.
The EU’s latest attempt to share digital cultural heritage, including film, builds on the Commission’s 2021 recommendation for a common European data space for cultural heritage.
Researchers Tuuli Lähdesmäki, Sigrid Kaasik-Krogerus and Katja Mäkinen have noted that EU policy on audiovisual heritage is about the interplay between medium and content. When the policy focuses on the medium, films, television, and radio programmes are considered a heritage in themselves. When the policy focuses on content, film, television, and radio are treated as audiovisual tools for conveying content, such as events and sites, regarded as cultural heritage.
In some EU initiatives, such as A Season of Classic Films organised since 2019, these heritage meanings are inseparable. In this initiative, classic European films have been screened at historic venues and major film festivals across Member States, showcasing the restoration of old films and the European history, traditions, and heritage they convey.
Films convey personal cultural heritage
Although EU policy acknowledges film as a cultural heritage, it has not yet recognised the more intimate heritage meanings that film can have for individuals. These meanings were revealed while researching European Film Festivals, also known as EU Film Festivals, organised by EU delegations with the embassies and cultural attachés of EU Member States and local film organisations in third countries. Such festivals have been organised without explicit funding since 1985, but in 2018 the European Commission launched a special support instrument to better coordinate their implementation.
European Film Festivals screen recent films from EU countries and organise various film-related side events for film professionals and audiences. For the EU, the main objective of these festivals is to strengthen public diplomacy, dialogue, and cooperation between the EU and third countries and their various stakeholders within and outside the film industry.
The festivals also aim to contribute to a more positive image of the EU and to promote European ideas and values. Through the screening of recent films and the organisation of side events, festivals also contribute to the promotion of European film outside Europe.
European ex-patriates and migrants and citizens with a European background and their families form an important audience for festivals in multicultural metropolises.
REBOOT project researchers Tuuli Lähdesmäki, Mafalda Dâmaso, Kaisa Hiltunen, Ruken Doğu Erdede, Elif Akçalı, and Melis Behlil examined the organisation of European Film Festivals through grey literature and interviews with EU delegations and festival organisers in eight non-EU countries, namely Argentina, Canada, Chile, Indonesia, South Africa, Türkiye, the United Kingdom, and Vietnam. The data from two of these countries, the UK and Canada, differed slightly from the others.
Tuuli Lähdesmäki’s analysis of the data from the UK and Canada showed that European films have a specific heritage meaning that is not addressed in the EU film policy. This meaning is based on film as a transmission of personal cultural heritage, including historical, cultural and family related elements that shape one’s identity and sense of belonging to a cultural group.
The UK and Canada include populations and/or large numbers of migrants and ex-patriates with heritage and cultural roots in (continental) Europe. According to interviews with festival organisers, European ex-patriates and migrants and citizens with a European background and their families form an important audience for festivals in multicultural metropolises, such as London, Toronto, Ottawa, and Vancouver. Such audiences are eager to see European films from their (or their parents’, grandparents’ or relatives’) home countries, to experience their culture, cultural roots, and cultural environment, and to hear their native language. For them, watching European films is motivated by the films’ ability to convey personal cultural heritage.
Heritage meanings in audience development
EU cultural policy discourses have identified film as a cultural heritage and have initiated policies to promote and safeguard film as such. Film as heritage is also mentioned in the guidelines for European Film Festival organisers.
However, neither the policies nor the guidelines recognise the intimate heritage meanings that European films can have. Such a heritage meaning is important for a specific audience segment, which could be better recognised as a potential market niche for European films.
However, the promotion of European films for audiences with European cultural roots in third countries is not without risks and challenges due to Europe’s colonialist and imperialist past. In countries with colonial histories, the promotion of European films for audiences with European cultural roots is problematic, especially in the context of the European Film Festivals, which aim to strengthen international cultural relations and intercultural dialogue. The challenges of promoting European films and Europe through the EU-initiated festival were acknowledged in our South African data.
Heritage meanings of European films are important for a specific audience segment, which could be better recognised as a potential market niche for European films.
In general, niche marketing of European films for specific audiences faces practical challenges, since the resources used for the promotion of the European films are modest compared to more competitive industries, such as the US film industry and Hollywood productions.
Audiences have different reasons for watching films. Personal heritage meanings are one of them. Such meanings could be better recognised in the development of audiences for European films. However, such niche marketing must avoid the risk of underlining European colonial legacies in third countries.
PhD, DSocSc Tuuli Lähdesmäki is an associate professor of art history at the University of Jyväskylä and the PI of the consortium partnership in the REBOOT project.
Article image: Aneta Pawlik / Unsplash
