Baltic States Look To Boost Film

New membership in the European Union has created the need for film-law development in two of the three small Baltic states that joined the group earlier this year, according to industry professionals from the regions.

Industry representatives gathering here for the 17th International Film Forum Arsenals, a biannual festival that ended Saturday, said the opportunities offered by EU membership require backing from more cohesive domestic legal frameworks.

National Film Centre of Latvia managing director Ilze Gailite Holmberg said that guarantees of continuity of funding and better tax laws are a priority in the region.

Only 3.6% of the more than 1.1 million cinema admissions in Latvia last year were to domestic films, compared with 76.5% for Hollywood fare and 18% for European films, Gailite Holmberg said.

State support for Latvian films grew by nearly $200,000 this year to $2.4 million, helping boost domestic production from the sluggish one or two films a year prevalent in the 1990s to this year's figure of four co-productions, with a further 10 state-supported projects in development, Gailite Holmberg said.

In neighboring Estonia, state support for domestic production next year will rise 30% to $3.7 million, and a film law that lays down sources of state funding for film and archives and support for cinemas is likely to get parliamentary approval late this year or early next year, Estonian Film Foundation managing director Martin Aadamsoo said in a statement.