Kino hetkeolukorrast ehk millest Eestis räägitakse vähe

Lugesin täna Screen Internationali, kus vôeti kokku filmitööstuse hetkeolukord. Kummatigi haaras mind tunne, et keskmise eestlase jaoks peaks see kôik kôlama kui hiina keel. Kui me käime Coca-Cola Plazas vôi vaatame televiisorit, ei pruugi me ju sugugi arutleda, et kôigel nähtul on taga mingi ratsionaalne iva, miks see film on tehtud ja just sellisel kujul on tehtud. Kui ma loen siit ja sealt kommentaarides, kuidas mône filmi stsenaariumit peetakse täiesti küündimatuks vôi mônda näitlejat täiesti andetuks, kergitan tihti kulme inimeste silmaklappide peale. Kui môni film näiteks on saanud tosinate viisi festivalide auhindu ja miljoneid vaatajaid, ning keegi eestlane väidab ilma edasikaebamise ôiguseta, et see film on küündimatu soperdis, siis tuleb seda väidet täpsustada. Vôtame näiteks filmi "Sügisball", mille kohta ma olen samuti lugenud, et tegemist oli igava ja saamatu käkiga, hoolimata sellest, et film on saanud ühe maailma kôige tähtsama festivali ühe peamistest auhindadest. Pean silmas Veneetsia festivali muidugi. Loomulikult vôib see kriitiline Sügisballi vaataja jääda oma arvamuse juurde, aga ta peab aru saama, et mitte film ei ole "käkk", vaid tema arvamus erineb nendest, kes seda filmi peavad väga heaks. See tähendab, et teatud filmide kohta langetatavad negatiivsed hinnangud ei ole tegelikkuses iial langetatud filmi kohta, vaid tähendavad vastandumist teistmoodi môtlevatele filmivaatajatele.Kas me oleme aga valmis tunnistama, et ükski film ei ole iial soperdis, vaid igal filmil on erinevad vaatajad.
Seda te küll ei suuda...
Teine küsimus on aga eesti filmide ja suure maailma vôimaluste kohta. Lugege alljärgnevat teksti ja esitage endale küsimus, kas ükski Eestis käsitletav filmistrateegia mahuks alljärgneva teksti konteksti? Vastus on see, et proffid on sel viisil môtisklenud, aga filmiajakirjanikele on need teemad tundunud liialt vähetähtsad. Tunduvalt lihtsam on ju môelda, et filmi edukus sôltub sellest, kui hea on see film. Püha lihtsameelsus! Arusaa heast filmist on ju alati vaid arusaam ehk môttekonstruktsioon, mis sôltub paljudest muudest hoiakutest. Näiteks paljudele vôib veebi jaoks tehtud film tunduda pônevana, aga iial ei peetaks seda sama heaks, kui kinodes jooksnud film. Allpool pakutakse välja, et asjad ei pruugi juba ammu nii olla.
Kôige olulisem on aga vist mitte väga originaalne väide, et euroopa riikides filmitoetuseks antud raha ei väljendu kuidagi nende kvaliteedis vôi vaatajate arvus. No comments.

Kuid jah - Screen International, kui üks maailma juhtivatest tööstuse inside ajakirjadest


... Yet as the year developed, worried talk of a 'credit crunch' turned to a realisation that much of the world was heading for full-scale recession. How that will affect the industry is unclear.

As there is no such homogenous body as the 'international film business', it is a pointless exercise to try to measure what effect the recession might have on it.

Downturns emphasise the reality that the industry is fragmented by country and region, by the scale of business and by different interests all along the value chain. How a South Korean producer sees the world right now is very different from a Norwegian exhibitor.

Production outstrips demand

In most international territories, production is not linked to demand. The weakness of government support for production based on cultural protectionism is that films are made without actually reaching audiences. Figures from the European Audiovisual Observatory in Cannes this year revealed the number of films produced in Europe was growing steadily, with no relation to box office at all.

The contrast with the US studios is clear. With the end of the hedge-fund boom, the studios - and more to the point their multinational, diversified owners - are having to focus on real business.

The culture of easy money is gone, replaced by harsh business realities that are beginning to have an impact on jobs. The studios have been reducing the number of big productions, building around fewer but smarter franchises.

The new realities at least in part explain a difference in attitude from actors at the prospect of a strike compared to their writing colleagues at the start of the year.

Some of the studios are also working at the other end of the scale; at Berlin, Universal Pictures International revealed details of its plans to marry its distribution muscle with local film-makers, building out from local success to maximise reach.

Certainly cinemas could not accommodate the level of films made, ostensibly for cultural reasons, and yet were unable to reach beyond small audiences in the big cities.

Online distribution moves

There are only two possible answers to over-production: fewer films or increased distribution through new channels.

'Straight to online' might have been a funny put-down a couple of years ago, but there have been significant signs of interest. Again, these have been relatively low-scale projects but name directors have tried their hand at reaching audiences through the internet. Wayne Wang's The Princess Of Nebraska premiered on YouTube and claimed 165,000 hits in its first two days. Michael Moore similarly opted to release his documentary Slacker Uprising online. In both cases, the critical issue was a desire to reach and influence a wider audience than arthouse cinema can deliver.

It is a long way from here to a mass acceptance of online distribution in film, but a generation of net-native film-makers who believe they can make a mark online are highly visible at virtually every conference and festival. At the very least, there are film-makers who see online work as an effective calling card. And yet, this year will have disappointed the revolutionaries. Digital may be finding its feet but the industry is scarcely shaking in its boots yet.

That is partly because DVD has proven highly resilient. Predictions of a big downturn for the physical format have proved premature. It remains the dominant format in terms of revenue and sales. The format war won by Blu-ray had a beneficial effect of driving down costs which may lead to a big leap forward in DVD sales during the holiday seasons, at least in key US and Japanese markets.

One factor is that online alternatives have failed to materialise. Apple's iTunes has established a lead in the legal download market with a movie service it launched this year, yet it is dwarfed by DVD sales and that may remain. A Screen Digest report suggested in December that online revenues would account for just a fraction of the market by 2012 - although predictions about virtually all online developments are difficult.

Digital cinema stalls

Perhaps the biggest digital disappointment, however, has been the achingly slow progress of the switch to digital cinema. Ironically, even as doubts about the inevitability of D-cinema change have evaporated, the progress has stalled.

The studios have been pumping millions into providing content they believe takes advantage of this trend - 2009 ought to be the year of 3D. Some are even more specific, believing James Cameron's Avatar will be the breakthrough 3D movie that starts an era just as surely as sound did. And Disney made an unequivocal commitment to the process, this year pledging to make all future animations in 3D.

Yet for much of the world, the third dimension is going to be missing. Indeed, in Europe in particular, pessimists are predicting mass closure of small cinemas.

Recession has turned that concern into a major issue. Even in the US, where installation was happening fast, there has been a slowdown. But in Europe, in particular, with its wide spread of smaller independent film sectors, the fear of a knock-on to the wider film industry is very real.

Fewer places to show film will exacerbate the over-supply issue and raise questions about the basis of film policy - how can you have a cultural justification for funding productions that few will see?

But new opportunities for smaller exhibitors are becoming clearer. The lucrative screening of live opera in cinemas around Europe has shown the power of cinema as a community venue. The possibility of showing a broader range of film is also promising and may throw up opportunities. In Brazil, this year, a new business model from MovieMobz is showing the potential of cinema-on-demand in which audiences can help fill programming.

A breakthrough in 2009 may come from a range of sources. Government at all levels may understand the need to protect a vital community resource, the bigger chains may decide that delaying the switch longer is dangerous in a highly competitive entertainment marketplace, or the industry may decide it needs to make a collective decision to look again at the deal on the table in the interests of all.

Either way, the future of theatrical depends on change.

If 2008 was a reality check, 2009 will challenge the industry at all levels to learn how to adapt to new circumstances.
Realism does not suggest a defeatist acceptance any more than it does complacency. The industry may have found it difficult to work out the answers this year, but it was still asking the right questions.
Globalisation remains the crucial issue. Although Russia and even China are not looking quite the cash cow some had dreamed - for both economic and political reasons - the centre of gravity is shifting.
The announcements by Indian conglomerate Reliance BIG Entertainment of major investment in film, including Hollywood stars' own production arms, will prove significant. India beyond Bollywood will become one of the stories of 2009, even more so given a likely slowdown elsewhere.
Digital change will be driven forward because there is no alternative. A digital cinema breakthrough becomes more likely when actual product, including 3D, is waiting to be exploited.