Cuts to the Spanish film industry’s funding, the staggering success of record-breaker ‘Titanic 3D’ in China and the unveiling of shorts in competition at Cannes are amongst the international stories in today’s Daily Bite.
Spain’s film industry dealt a blow… The struggling Spanish film industry has been dealt a further blow with Screendaily reporting that Susana de la Sierra, director of Spain’s cinema body ICAA, has confirmed there will be no financial support for scripts, animation movies or short films this year. On top of that, a total of seven of the 11 lines of funding for the ICAA will be cut. The industry had hoped that tax deductions for those who invest in cinema would hit 40 per cent but the ICAA have been told they will not exceed 25 per cent. The cutbacks mean that the ICAA’s final budget of €48.46m for the year is half of the funding it received in 2007.
‘Titanic 3D’ breaks box office records in China… Various sources are reporting the stunning success of James Cameron’s ‘Titanic’ in China, which has broken all box office records in the country to prove China’s biggest opening of all time. Over its opening weekend the film took in a staggering €44m - far higher than it has achieved in North America, where it has so taken €33m in two weeks. The Chinese takings mean that ‘Titanic’ has already taken more money in the country in the last six days than it did in 1998. The news comes at a time of huge success for the Chinese film industry as it prepares to co-produce its first massive blockbuster with Hollywood.
Cannes’ unveils shorts in competition….. Ahead of the much-anticipated unveiling of the films in its main selection, Cannes has announced the shorts that will be in competition over May 16 -27. For the Short Film Palme d’Or competition, 10 films have been selected from the 4,500 submissions. The 10 films are ‘Mi Santa Mirada’ (Puerto Rico); ‘Gasp’ (Germany); ‘Ce Chemin Devant Moi’ (France); ‘Waiting For P.O. Box’ (Syria); ‘The Chair’ (US); ‘Night Shift’ (New Zealand); ‘Chef De Meute’ (Canada);
‘Yardbird’ (Australia); ‘Cockaigne’ (Belgium) and ‘Silent’ (Turkey).
