Cineuropa Interviews EDN’s Paul Pauwels
Cineuropa is a good source if you want to know, what happens in the film world. In the latest edition of the newsletter you will find a brief but informative interview with EDN director Paul Pauwels, who talks about the Media and Society initiative that he and the organisation has launched, including meetings with professionals – next week one is announced at the European Film Market of the Berlinale. I steal a quote from the interview, link to the whole text below:
PP: For 20 years, EDN has been supporting the European documentary sector, and I dare say that we have done this very successfully. However, digital technology has allowed new players to enter the market, and this has turned the power structures within the media environment around. The result is that the “old” business model has been disrupted; the model that for decades has allowed independent documentary producers and directors to contribute in a significant way to the European media landscape. Increasingly, we have noticed that the model that worked so well in the past is now being challenged, and the position of the independent creative documentary is under pressure. This is happening at a time when the media’s influence on the audience’s thoughts, values and behaviour is stronger than ever. We are experiencing a paradigm shift that forces us to reflect on how to protect the position of the independent documentary in a global, mediatised society. EDN is not impervious to this challenge: we, too, have to think about the needs of our community and how best to serve it. We are convinced that we can only successfully protect the interests of the independent European documentary community if we have accurate facts and figures at our disposal, something that our community has never been good at providing. Taking stock of the current situation of the European documentary environment and preparing to defend its position within the European audiovisual landscape are what made us decide to launch Media & Society.
http://cineuropa.org/it.aspx?t=interview&l=en&did=346968
