PARIS?Various workshops at the Paris Cinema International Film Festival yielded valuable lessons for the young Filipino filmmakers and producers that interacted with their French counterparts.

Jim Libiran, whose film ?Tribu? won the Youth Jury Prize at the festival, pointed out that a ?new treaty of Paris? should be drafted between the two countries.
(As part of the prize, ?Tribu? will be promoted for possible distribution in France.)

Arleen Cuevas, producer of ?Adela??featured in the Paris Project program?agreed, adding that such a bilateral treaty would expedite co-production deals between French and Filipino filmmakers.

?If there were a co-production treaty between our two countries, Filipino companies could avail of tax shelters, for example,? Cuevas explained. ?It would make the possibility of shooting in France easier and less expensive for us. We can get waivers for certain permits. We can enjoy tax breaks or post-production discounts.?

Filipino-French

Adolfo Alix Jr., director of ?Adela,? said that such a co-production treaty was earlier drafted between the Philippines and Singapore. ?[Cinemanila head] Tikoy Aguiluz told us that there?s also a co-production treaty between the Philippines and Canada.?

If such a treaty were in place, Cuevas related, ?it?d be as if the French government would consider a Filipino film company as French for as long as it has a French co-producer.?

Mutual benefits

Needless to say, French companies with Filipino partners would also enjoy the same benefits if they were to shoot movies in the country, Alix said.

Alix recounted that he and his colleagues picked up a lot of pointers from the workshops, especially the Paris Project ?pitching? platform.

?Among the topics covered were how to look for funding in France, how to pitch your project to prospective French co-producers and distributors, basic co-production information, media chronology, and theatrical, TV and video distribution,? recounted Alix.

?It?s important for young filmmakers to know that there are alternative sources of financing from abroad,? Cuevas said. ?If you cannot get financing locally, you can find partners from other countries.?

Case in point: ?Adela? has found a worldwide distributor in Visit Films, Alix noted. ?Visit Films is the same company that distributed ?Pleasure of Being Robbed,? which is the closing film in the Cannes Directors? Fortnight this year. It also premiered in Sundance. ?Adela? has been invited to at least two film festivals abroad.

Four sources

Alix said that Cuevas also found four different financing sources for Raya Martin?s ?Independencia?: from Fonds Sud Cinema of France, Hubert Bals of the Netherlands, Prince Klaus Fund of Rotterdam and the Global Film Initiative of the US.

Nes Jardin, president of the Cultural Center of the Philippines (CCP), attended the workshops with the young filmmakers.

Funding experts

He observed that today?s current crop of producers and filmmakers like Cuevas, Margie Templo and Raymond Lee have become experts in tapping alternative sources of financing.

?Many of the independent filmmakers have become savvy in obtaining foreign funding,? said Jardin. ?They?ve learned to fend for themselves.?

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