Cultural Identity and Film In the European Economic Community

I am honored by the invitation to talk about cultural identity and the European film industries. Although the program lists my remarks as "An American Perspective," I think I can tell you with confidence that my views probably are not those of the American government, and those of you who know my writings will acknowledge that they certainly are not those of the American film industry. Further, there are more than 200,000,000 Americans. So let me affirm that my perspective is my own; whether it is "American" is another question which I would not care to debate. Frankly, I do not envy you your task of trying to develop a public policy for a future European film industry-or alternatively several film industries in Europe-especially when some of the most important data are missing. In part, these concern the precise extent of foreign investment in the present film industries. It is a pity that such important social processes on an international scale are obscured from public view, and that the search for a policy, through the weighing of contrasting proposals, must be made without benefit of their knowledge. I liken it to the construction of a tall building without a geologist's report on the soils composition. Of course, facts which are available do provide the basis for a sketch. The nine countries now comprise a cinema market and industry larger than that existing in the United States. There probably are 500 features produced annually in the Community. Some 21,000 theatres account for almost 1.2 billion admissions each year. The sketch would not be complete, however, without an acknowledgment of the American presence, evident not only in the number of films on the screen, but also in the extent to which American subsidiaries finance films made in Europe, and distribute them in Europe and elsewhere. The quantity of imported American films on the market certainly is not a new phenomenon. In fact, looking historically at the matter, one finds that American pictures dominated European screens long before the coming of sound. In the United Kingdom, competition from American films was so fierce that by 1923 only about 10 percent of the pictures exhibited were British-made. It has been estimated that by 1926 British films were occupy