Framing the future

Timothy Sifert looks at how the movie industry is trying to overcome its persistent lack of funding

Champions of Polish cinema stake claim to a nation of deft scriptwriters, uncompromising directors, studied technicians and well-connected producers and distributors who together could fashion a distinct version of the future of modern national cinema and film production. But what's usually seen as a cultural tonic - as national cinema is for many Europeans - has been virtually deserted by requisite benefactors of television stations, foreign companies and government largesse.

The exodus of capital has removed the key ingredient of steady investment, which drives the international buzz around the movie industries in other European countries - especially in France and Germany.

It's not so much a case of bleeding balance sheets as in other business sectors; in the past few years industry heavyweights and newcomers alike have hardly found cash to begin with.

So industry professionals, thirsty for creativity and capital, and the government are working diligently - if not together - to put the punch back into the box office business. Their hope is that by drafting new legislation, seeking a variety of cinema-related contracts and investments abroad and fostering a more thriving independent film industry, they will cure what ails Polish cinema.

What's more, the European Union's cinematic financing scheme, Media Plus, and a recent international growth initiative by Warsaw's state-of-the-art film studio, Wytwórnia Filmów Dokumentalnych i Fabularnych (WFDiF), could play their part in giving at least an initial boost to the domestic film industry. Many Warsaw film professionals dwelled on these topics as they descended upon France last week for the 51st annual Cannes Film Festival (May 14-24).

"Poles tend to be pessimistic; (they have a) tendency to see things in a dark light," said Maciej Karpiński, a senior executive producer at the Film Agency of Polish Television, and the director of the Polish Feature Film Festival. "Things are not so bad, nor so good."

Karpiński, who has written and directed several films and worked with national cinema hero Andrzej Wajda, wants to put things into perspective. Indeed, he said, life in the movie business stands a good chance of improving.

"The television stations' position toward the film industry needs to be reevaluated," Karpiński said.

Film producers sourly recount that over the last few years TV stations - their major source of feature film funding - have all but exited the industry, instead homing in on more lucrative made-for-TV movies or soap operas. (That trend too has sapped the film industry of a great deal of talent.)

Canal Plus, for one, was mandated to finance Polish films as part of its terrestrial cable contract. But it acquired UPC, became a satellite cable provider, and obviated its terrestrial contact. State-owned TVP also gradually began to shift from banking on the box office.

But Karpiński said he saw TV stations beginning to migrate, however slowly, back into film.

"I think it's slowly moving in that direction. First of all, state funding, which is now very little, has to increase. The average cost of a film is about $1 million," he said, explaining that the national budget this year apportions only about E2.6 million ($3 million) for the entire industry. Karpiński's sentiments echo those of producers in the industry.

The continental model

The government, though sluggish as ever in its support for the arts, seems on the brink of putting a new model for cinema into action.

"We are working on a cinema act modeled on those in Europe, particularly on the French model," said a ministry of culture official, who asked not to be named. "The main new thing in this act would be to broaden the sources of funding for film."

The existing law is a communist-era creation that predictably failed to take into account free market forces, he said. Today's meager film funding is generated from the cash-starved budget, and last year, under the auspices of Andrzej Celiński, the previous minister of culture, whom critics said had a poor perception of film, cinema funding was halved.

"This funding should not be limited to the government budget," the ministry source said. All fields that earn money in the industry should contribute to the funding as well, he said. "The new law will take into account all of them."

Whatever its final form, a new law could go into effect by autumn and tax ticket sales, video and DVD rentals and lotteries, among other revenue-generating resources related to the cinema. The culture ministry source declined to say just how much cash this new fund would create, but noted it would be a lot more than present practice.

Should the law come into play as planned, it would be welcome news for Dariusz Jabłoński, the president of Apple Film Production and head of the Audio Visual Producers Chamber of Commerce (KIPA). Jabłoński has been lobbying the government for 10 years, a process he said has made him "bitter."

The government still owes Apple Film some $200,000 from an earlier production - a bill it is slowly paying.

But what could have taken so long to realize the value of cinema to culture?

"The point is that the act changed with each new minister," said the culture ministry source.

That's no excuse, was Jabłoński's rebuttal.

"The work we have done in the last 10 years did not result in a law, which is a bitter reflection," Jabłoński said. "I can hardly imagine that we will succeed. No one has the money to invest 100% of a film's budget because the budget and the risk (involved) are too high. You would not see any films in Europe (if that was the case)."

Also, he explained that the Rywingate scandal, in which the renowned producer Lew Rywin is accused of offering a bribe to media giant Agora on behalf of the government to thwart the introduction of an anticonsolidation media law, also drags the movie industry's name through the mud. He said that though the scandal centered on television law, Rywin's stature as the producer behind Steven Spielberg's "Schindler's List" and Roman Polański's "The Pianist" reflects negatively on Jabłoński's industry.

Even though he's one of its staunchest advocates, Jabłoński is not idly waiting for a law. Apple, which has produced such films as "Przedwiośnie" ("The Spring to Come") and "Bellissima," intends to seek financing abroad and put the €90,000 from the EU Media Plus program toward its future. He will hardly ask the government, he said.

The present milieu already forced Apple to take drastic financial steps to make "Przedwiośnie" a few years back. Jabłoński and the film's director, Filip Bajoń, took out a €1.7-million ($2-million) loan, backed by their own credibility, to finance the €4.4-million ($5-million) film. Jabłoński said his colleagues thought he was crazy, and though the film was well received, after repaying the loan, paying workers and exacting their own salaries, the project broke "just below" even.

"Never again," Jabłoński said.

Too much pride?

When not pinning the blame for the state of cinema on the government and the overall ailing economy, industry professionals also say that the lack of funding might be a justified comeuppance for their own hubris.

Following national hits based on Henryk Sienkiewicz's novels "Pan Tadeusz" (1999), directed by Wajda, and "With Fire and Sword" (1999), directed by Jerzy Hoffman, the industry turned in on itself. The latter film was financed through domestic sources only, which gave industry moguls precedent for their belief that they could go it alone, without much international support.

"There was the presumption that we could be totally self-sufficient," said TVP's Karpiński. "Unfortunately, that's not the case. We need to move more toward partnering with Europe. It all depends on the (prevailing) philosophy."

Jabłoński strikes the same cord, and is trying to make good on some of his colleagues' past mistakes.

"We are looking abroad for money, partners ... contacts," he said. "We are trying to attract more production services to Poland. We are offering them services and to bring them here. It's a question of a point of view of the future. Even with the best support from the state, local production would be harder and harder. So that's our will - we want to be part of a really strong world sector - a part of American productions."

Besides faring better economically, he said bringing western operations to Poland would also better train Poles in production.

"At the end of this we hope we can be as professional as American films are and we ca learn their ways of production and development," Jabłoński said. "We are preparing an offer."

Some locals are "envious" of the differences between the film industries in Poland and the Czech Republic, which according to some estimates attracts €175 million ($200 million) in foreign money yearly and has become world renowned. Critics point to an aesthetic comparison between Warsaw and Prague as a possibility for the Czech Republic's success; Warsaw was virtually destroyed in World War II, making it less pleasing to the camera's lens. But they also note that the Polish countryside and mountainous regions to the south could double for many western landscapes, which along with the low costs and quality of film services in the country make them ideal for western movie productions. The two countries' industries should be at least neck and neck.

To the mainstream, Prague as a central European cinematic capital made its name with the success of the 1996 Hollywood film "Mission: Impossible," a large part of which was filmed there. Some producers chalk up that success to the Czech Republic's quick privatization of film studios, the most renowned of which is Barrandov Studios. As private entities after communism, Czech studio owners began to push their cutting-edge filming and production capabilities and attractive scenery in Los Angeles and New York.

Those overtures worked tenfold. Polish studios stayed public and were less aggressive. The largely state-owned movie studios were late in changing with the times.

But WFDiF, Poland's largest state-owned film studio and film producer, could be seen to be making up for lost time, having recently developed a more aggressive international offering.

"We aim increasingly to interest foreign producers in our potential, and to this end (we) have produced the Internet site 'Filming in Poland,'" said Włodzimierz Niderhaus, the director of the studio, in a prepared statement. "(It) offers information about production resources, locations and opportunities for filming in Poland."

Producers, such as Jabłoński, count WFDiF among the essential resources for the country to attract foreign business. At present WFDiF is engaged in the coproduction of two feature films, "Pornografia" ("Porno-graphy") and "Pogoda na jutro" ("Tomorrow's Weather").

An ideal opportunity

While many cinema industry players complain about the government, there are writers, directors and producers who see the existing industry's dire straits as an ideal business opportunity.

Piotr Mularuk and Jan Dowjat, both of whom studied at film schools in New York City, recently started up Yeti Films, with the idea in mind that the industry has changed, traditional funding sources have dried up and that it's high time for a new business model.

"The idea to build a company in a time of crisis seemed a good idea," said Mularuk, the chief executive. "We said, 'So let's do it American style; roll up the sleeves and get it going.'

"The system sort of broke down about a year ago. The Polish state had a budget crisis. We were happy that this actually happened. I was working a lot in that (old) system. In 2002, I had lined up several projects and as it began it all just fell and I was facing nothing, zero. A blank space; no projects, no money, no prospects. This was sort of the genesis for our company."

Mularuk added that he felt he had no choice but to start his own company. "It's a passion, what can you do? You don't change horses in the middle of the race," he said. As such, the two young filmmakers are now working with several scriptwriters across multiple genres, and earning their keep - for now - making promotional films for companies. Money for its first PR film from BPH PBK actually funded the opening of the company, which will write, produce and direct films in the future.

Dowjat also has a positive spin on things. "We were actually finding things were finally clear," he said of the time when they created the company. "Nobody had any money. Finally everybody was on the same level. And this we saw as an opportunity to make an advantage out of disadvantage."

Not everyone takes such a fresh-eyed approach to an industry made and lost at the box office.

"I agree that Polish films are at a low point, but my opinion is that it is connected with the overall economy and the industry itself," said Jarosław Kemus, director of theatrical distribution at Vision, the country's largest independent film distributor. "Cars are not selling as much; the same with movies. There is a recession. It influences the Polish economy and culture."

And from the distributor's viewpoint, foreign films still take precedence at the box office.

"Last year, over 300 movies were released on the Polish market; of that number, 16 were Polish," Kemus explained. And only five had more than 400,000 viewers. "This proves that the situation is not good."

He said that the distributor's job is made more complicated by complex bargaining with movie theatres over what percentage of the box office they take home, and with organizations that represent film creators, which ask for royalties that are much higher than those in the rest of Europe. Kemus said that he hopes new legislation could solve these woes.

Also, the lack of money in the economy makes it difficult for distributors to market films here, whether they're Polish or not.

"Poland is such as small market," said Piotr Reiscz, president of distributor SPI. "It's difficult to promote films so we have to rely on as much PR as possible. It's not enough (money) to hold a regular marketing campaign."

He said distributors often steer clear of buying TV and radio spots to promote films - traditional western methods - because they're too expensive. So instead they hold prescreenings and try to access the cultural opinion-setters in other creative, cheaper ways.

As for Polish films in general, Reiscz is a harsh critic.

"There are no good scripts," he said. "I spent 10 years in New York, and people keep telling me that they have scripts (in Poland) that are as good as Hollywood. And they aren't. My opinion is the Polish creators are forming an exclusive, close community and they have lost touch with the viewers."

If the quality has indeed fallen among films, which is very debatable, it is attributed to better opportunities for directors and writers producing for TV - and TV's shift away from film funding.

Apple's Jabłoński said that many good directors have shifted to television.

"In film I sometimes have a feeling we are in a Jurassic Park," he said. "I am watching producers' careers, and I see more and more are going to TV production. There will be no lobbying because there will be no producers. And (many) will never come back."

TVP's Karpiński definitely represents the more positive side of the industry.

"Funding problems did not influence the Polish film industry as much as everyone expected," he said, speaking from his experience directing the Polish Feature Film Festival. "Every year they predict fewer and fewer films (at the festival)."

He said some doomsayers predict about five to 10 films at the festival. "(But) when we count them all, we have many, many more. It doesn't really fall below 20 a year."

But for all the disappointment over past few years, there is still hope that a little tenacity and better planning could see the cameras running at full throttle again.

"I am not saying it's easy, but it's not more difficult than anywhere else," Karpiński said.