“Cinema is the pinpoint of our modern culture. It conveys our tradition and it is a bold and creative reflection of our time. An identity element but also a passport for the world. Next week’s ratification of the agreement between the Greek Film Center and the French National Center of Cinematography and the Moving Image marks another launching of Greek cinema and, by extension, of our culture” stated Panos Panayotopoulos,
Greek Minister of Culture and Sports after meeting with the General Manager of the GFC, Grigoris Karantinakis.
G. Karantinakis (GFC) and F. Bredin (CNC)
Yannis Iliopoulos from
GFC told us that, like the negotiations leading up to it, the signing of the agreement was made in a very good environment, coming after a long effort by both Centers and it is of a great importance, especially for the Greek filmmakers. More specifically, regarding the benefits of the agreement, he stated that the amount of money given by the
French National Center of Cinematography to the approved works, will be considerably higher than the percentage the French minor-producer will have in the work. This is important because in that way the total amount given by
CNC can be entirely spent for the funding of co-productions of Greek initiative. Moreover, it seems that there will be a flexibility regarding the terrestrial limits in the expenses of the funding by
CNC, aiming at strengthening the Greek-French productions. Finally, Iliopoulos added that another important benefit for the Greek producers is the fact that the grants given by this bilateral fund will be non-refundable.
