Ahead of the Oscars we take a look at the challenges facing European cinema.
ADVERTISEMENTThree actors, a car, and a room were enough to earn Belgian short film 'Une Soeur' (A sister) an Oscar nomination.
Delphine Girard spoke to Euronews from the US ahead of the Oscars about what drives her to make her films in an industry where it can be hard to get a film off the ground.
"What is important to me is to create a meaningful story, to create a movie that I would also like to watch but it is also nice if it touches other people. With my producer and my team, there were reflections about how to find a place in the world for this film."
Looking at the numbers, the difference in stark. Europe films trail behind American ones. Global box office revenues in 2018 totalled 41.1 billion Dollars, with the US having more then a quarter of the cake, and the EU behind it with 22%.
Powerful streaming services have now started playing a big role in production and distribution.
It creates opportunities but also a challenges for Europe, the major streaming services have come out of America.
"If you do not have a structure that is strongly regulated for a sector, the access to the audience will decrease. We feel that there is a clear correlation between public intervention, be it through regulation or actual public funding; and market shares of national and European films," Pauline Durand-Vialle, Chief Executive of the Federation of European Film Directors.
Film festivals like Cannes boost Europe's film industry and the European Commission plans to invest 1.8 billion euros in the cultural sector as a whole over the next seven years.
Some of the money is to be used to boost language and cultural diversity in European films.
"We have a very rich capacity to tell stories, but sometimes we are less good in sharing them; getting them out and getting those stories to travel. That is why we will focus on this; so to make our films and TV series more visible; more well known; promoting them and creating an appetite for them," says Pauline Durand-Vialle, Chief Executive of the Federation of European Film Directors.
The Oscar for Best International Feature Film will go to a production from either South Korea, Spain, France, Poland or North Macedonia.