Their opinion on the merger of the National Center for Audiovisual Media and Communication (EKOME) and the Hellenic Film Center (EKK)with a bill of the Ministry of Culture, creating a new unitary body in their place, five men who serve from a different métieri each of the audiovisual productions, in the context of the 9th Economic Forum of Delphi.

“In recent years there has been a flourishing of audiovisual producers in our country. We have to see what the next step will be to take advantage of it,” he said Leonidas Christopoulos, President & CEO of EKOME, talking about the necessity of unhooking from the pathologies of the past, such as scattered structures and overlapping responsibilities, in order to go one step further. “Now the country needs a new governance system that will promote Greek cinematographic art and will manage with a single policy all financial tools, selective and automatic, will uniformly promote Greek cinematography abroad and which will include in its mission something that comes with many opportunities and threats, technology” he pointed out.

“A single entity equals better access to funding,” added Mr. Christopoulos, noting that the Ministry of Finance’s bill provides that 50% of the fees collected from (subscription) television will go to the enhancement of the cinematographic art. The creation of such an organization, however, also means something else, because it signals abroad that something is happening here, he added. “In that sense, it is a bill of escape to the future” he concluded.

“Cinema is our cultural heritage. But in order for the state to do cultural diplomacy, it must provide a framework of investment stability,” she said Amanda Livanou, Vice President SAPOE, CEO-Producer Neda Film, Greece. The Greek Cycladic Society is currently the most underfunded in Europe. Characteristically, it was slightly above Albania in 2022 and has now fallen to 2012 levels, he said. The same, as he said, happens with television, speaking of the two sides of the same coin. “We can’t just stick to the independent financing tool of EKOME, it’s not enough,” emphasized Ms. Livanou, emphasizing that there should be a balance between the two sources of financing.

“After the pandemic lockdown, people are asking for more, but linear TV can’t keep up, so people are turning to platforms,” ​​said Giannis Karagiannis, CEO, JK Productions SA, Kapa Studios, Greece. This downward trend, as he explained, is putting pressure on the producers as well as the television, which does not take the risk of doing something big. “The Greek speech and the Greek language are only an embankment,” he noted, but this does not interest young people. “We are asking the state to protect us and build a fair system,” stressed Mr. Karagiannis, pointing out the risk of his industry disappearing. It is necessary to unite in order to create production value and income, he added, underlining that the space should define a strategy for the next 5-10 years.

For a fragmentation in terms of the financing of Greek cinematography producers, Mr Konstantinos Kontovrakis, Film Producer, Greece, commenting on the existing legislative framework. As he explained, the legislation stipulates that television must return 1.5% of its gross revenue to film productions, but only ERT and Greek subscribers do this. It also stipulates that another 1.5% must be returned from the foreign platforms, but this has never been implemented. “By merging the two organizations, the Ministry of Finance creates new financial tools, with the fees it puts on pay TV. However, it leaves out the most important player, the foreign platforms,” ​​emphasized Mr. Kontovrakis, pointing out the risk that the legislative initiative will open other fronts.

In his experience with the cash rebate of the movie “Happiness”, he mentioned Dionysis Samiotis, Vice President, Tanweer Group, Greece. As he explained, they received 300 thousand euros, leveraging another 850 thousand from private investments. “Before giving the investment, the state created an expansion of the taxable base, with 800 thousand VAT from the tickets, with 190 thousand VAT only from the canteens of the halls”, while the employer contributions exceeded, as he said, 100 thousand euros, characterizing the cash rebate as a premium incentive”. Accordingly, in the film “Fonissa” the rebate exceeded 40%, while there was also 1 million from private investments, leveraging the expansion of the taxable base and the VAT of tickets. “The cost-benefit is a serious case study for any government, but one must also see the impact with what this brings to tourism, economic development, etc.” concluded.

“It is rightly supported by EKOME and television, but perhaps this support should not include second and third cycles of series, which in their first cycle – which were not financially supported – did not bring any perspective and did not include any expectation of a cultural effect said, taking the floor Lakis Lazopoulos, Actor, Writer, Director, Producer. He emphasized, however, that supporting television does not mean substituting the obligation of the channel managers not to pay. Mr. Lazopoulos made an extensive reference to the international film industry, considering that our isolation from it is related to the particularity of our language. “The language of images could become the language with which our country communicates with the rest of the world,” he emphasized, citing the example of George Lanthimos. “His films are in English, but the images in his films are produced by a Greek mind,” he explained, calling on YPO and EKOME to realize the importance of the language of images regardless of the language itself.