Brexit and the British Film Industry

I’m not sure that this piece will count as one of those identified as part of Project Fear, which is putting voters off the whole debate. Nevertheless, I think it’s another factor that needs to be taken into consideration. About a year or so now, a European initiative was launched with the intention of creating closer ties and commercial connections between the various national film companies in France, Germany and possibly Britain. One of the leaders of this initiative was the French Canal Plus. The goal was to create a film combine strong enough for Europe to become an effective rival to Hollywood. I think it’s an excellent idea.

Don’t get me wrong – I like Hollywood movies the same as the next guy. I just want to preserve my own film industry as well, as uniting with the French, Germans and so on seems the best way to do it. Film and television are very expensive media. I can remember being told way back at a Dr Who convention in the mid-1990s that a day’s outdoor film cost something like £40,000. The only way some films are able to get made is through multi-country financing. And this has allowed some excellent, alternative films to be made. For example, Terry Gilliam’s Zero Theorem, about a mad computer scientist in a corporate dystopian future trying to prove mathematically that the world is pointless, was a joint production between, I think, Britain, France and Romania. And in recent years, there have been a number of really excellent films made on the continent. Amelie was the art house favourite a few years ago, but far more to my taste was The Adventures of Adele Blanc-Sec, about the adventures of French female Indiana Jones-type archaeologist, as she attempts to stop a rampaging pterodactyl and return ancient Egyptian physicians from the day so that they can cure her sister, who is in a persistent vegetative state following a bizarre hatpin accident.

My fear is that if we leave Europe, we will also lose access to the EU’s arts funding, including financial and other support for our film industry, as well as easy access to the rest of the continent’s cinema chains. France does operate a system of protectionism, intended to preserve their domestic film industry against Hollywood competition, and we could be similarly penalised, if and when the British film industry proves once again there’s life somewhere.

Tags: 'Amelie', 'The Adventures of Adele Blanc-Sec', Brexit, Canal Plus, Dr. Who, Funding, Hollywood, Indian Jones, Science Fiction, Terry Gilliam, The Zero Theorem