A group of more than 100 film and TV organisations from around the world launched an appeal to European Union institutions and global governments Monday – on the eve of the Cannes Film Festival kickoff – calling on them to support the indie industry ecosystem following U.S. President Donald Trump’s announced plan to impose tariffs on film imports.
Signatories include the The European Producers Club, which represents top independent film and TV drama producers across continental Europe, Irish Equity, South Africa’s Independent Directors Association, and Canada’s Alliance des producteurs francophones du Canada.
The appeal, titled “Our Stories, our Voices: A Global Declaration for Artistic Freedom, Cultural Diversity and Cultural Sovereignty” asks governments “to stand firm and safeguard the systems that support independent film and audiovisual creation so that culture, creativity, and democratic access to diverse stories for the screen can continue to flourish,” it said.
“We are witnessing increasingly aggressive attempts by powerful political and corporate actors
to dismantle the regulatory protections that ensure the diversity and accessibility of cultural
expression,” the appeal noted.
“This includes direct challenges to essential protections such as the Audiovisual Media
Services Directive in the European Union, proposed local content obligations in Australia,
screen quotas in Asia, and requirements that streaming services contribute to domestic
production in Canada, among others,” it added.
In Europe Trump’s aggressive new trade policy is prompting U.S. studios to mount a new offensive against the EU’s Audiovisual Media Services Directive (AVMS) which forces foreign streaming services to invest a portion of their revenues into local productions.
The Motion Picture Association which, among other Hollywood companies, represents the interests of Disney, Netflix, Paramount, Amazon Prime/MGM, Sony Pictures, Universal and Warner Bros. in March – prior to Trump’s tariffs on film announcement – sent a memorandum to the United States Trade Representative (USTR) underlining “disproportionate investment obligations” in European countries including France, Germany, and Italy.
Signatories in their appeal underlined that they “firmly oppose any political, legal, or economic initiative that seeks to undermine national or international rules designed to uphold artistic freedom and
cultural diversity in the film and audiovisual sector.”
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