[LINK] At Last a Country Ready to Promote it's local Film Industry.

[Tom Koltai]

I especially liked the comment about two blockbusters filling up all the
cinemas and thereby precluding Argentinean locally made movies from
being aired.

This occurs in Australia on a weekly basis and ensures that our budding
film makers wind up with financial failures.

A tax on showing foreign movies in Cinemas will give the Argentinean
Film industry a boost.
I look forward to a similar initiative being introduced by the
Australian Government.

If the Film industry is so important that it's lobbyists can convince
our legislators to sign ACTA et al, then it behoves our politicians to
recognise that it must be important for Australia's economic well being
to promote locally made content over that of the Hollywood lifestyle.


From:
http://www.inaglobal.fr/en/cinema/article/argentinian-measures-deter-scr
eening-foreign-films

Quote/
Argentinean Measures Deter Screening of Foreign Films 
With a resolution
<http://www.cinesargentinos.com.ar/noticia/2801-la-resolucion-del-incaa-
para-gravar-las-peliculas-y-trailers-no-argentinos/>  published in the
Boletín oficial[+] NoteThe Argentinian official gazette. X   [1] of
August 30, 2011, the Argentinian government has decided to protect
domestic cinema through the implementation of a tax on foreign films
released in the country’s movie theatres. The resolution, registered as
Resolution n° 2114/2011, was prepared by the INCAA (Instituto Nacional
de Cine y Artes Audiovisuales), the state agency responsible for
promoting national cinema. The idea of the tax was supported by the
president of the INCAA, Liliana Mazure, who is well-known for another
major act regarding the defense of national production: since 2008,
there has been an obligation for Argentinian movie theatres to screen at
least one Argentinian movie each quarter of the year, and to program it
for a minimum of two weeks.
 
The new measure obliges distributors of non-Argentinian films to pay
screening fees, depending on how many screens the film is released on.
The amount of the tax is contingent on a geographical distinction
between the city of Buenos Aires and its surrounding region, known as
Gran Buenos Aires, and the rest of the country. In both cases,
distributors are facing a scaled tax, which is calculated based on "a
price equivalence for a given number of ticket sales". The tax is lower
when screens are not located in the capital and its surrounding region,
for essentially demographic reasons: Buenos Aires and its surroundings
count no less than one third of the Argentinian population and – as a
logical consequence – have a great deal more movie theatres than any
other area of the country. The tax for distributors, when releasing
films in and around Buenos Aires, starts at the equivalent of the price
of 300 movie tickets, and can go up to the equivalent of 12,000 movie
tickets.

As of September 1, 2011, the average price of a movie ticket was 30
Argentinian pesos, or approximately $7.15; as a consequence, the tax can
run from $2,145 to $85,800 in the current context. Distributors have to
pay the fees directly to the INCAA when going about qualification
formalities for their films and deciding on the number of distributed
copies – all operations handled by the Instituto Nacional de Cine.
Trailers are also concerned by Resolution n° 2114/2011: for all trailers
shown in movie theatres[+] NoteTrailers are taxed as many times as they
are shown. X [2], a tax corresponding to the price of 50 movie tickets
is now charged.
 
As soon as the publication of the resolution in the Boletín oficial was
announced, American journalist Charles Newbery criticized a system
dedicated to "making it harder for Hollywood releases to crowd out local
fare" in Variety. He recalls that American productions account for
80-85% of the Argentinian box office and estimates they should end 2011
with profits up by 32% compared to 2010.
 
The INCAA doesn't officially present its resolution as a barrier
specifically aimed at the influx of Hollywood movies, but its president
provided no examples other than American super-productions in the
interview she gave to Argentinian daily Clarín in justifying the
measure: in 2011, the blockbusters – or tanques, asArgentinian
journalists like to call them – Pirates of the Caribbean 4 and Kung Fu
Panda 2 respectively had 350 and 250 copies in Argentina, more or less
at the same time, while there are only 800 screens in the whole country.
According to Liliana Mazure, these overwhelming American movies not only
have negative effects for the exposure of Argentinian productions
(especially independent productions), but also take up spaces that could
be allotted to quality European productions that do not have the same
financial means to compete on the market. During her exchanges with the
press, the INCAA's president invited professionals to combat the risk of
a "single offer" and ensure – or rebuild – cultural diversity in the
field of cinema. For Mazure, the point is not to "forbid" foreign
blockbusters, but to "limit" their on-screen monopoly, according to the
interview given to Clarín on August 30.
 
Officially, the measure has been applied since September 7. However, the
INCAA has placed a great deal of importance on discussions that have
arisen within the community of movie professionals. Argentinian
journalist Gustavo Noriega warned, through his Twitter account, against
the dangers for independent distributors of foreign films. Liliana
Mazure announced that a public meeting would soon be organized with
producers, distributors and movie theatre owners to discuss all aspects
of movie distribution, beyond issues surrounding Resolution 2114.
/Quote


The Minister for Arts is inviting comments on australian Cultural
Policy: http://culture.arts.gov.au/have-your-say