by Vladimir Opela
Under the former regime, the whole of Czech cinematography was controlled by the cultural department of the Central Committee of the Communist Party. A government resolution of August 1990 turned over the control to the Czech Republic, and as of January it was assigned to the Ministry of Culture.
The nationalization decree of 1945 has not been abolished, but nevertheless private production, distribution, advertising, and film equipment firms have started up business without restraint. Of the original eight state-owned companies, Kratky Film Praha became a joint-stock company in January 1991; in 1992, proposals for the privatization of Barrandov Film Studios and Barrandov Film Laboratories, and Zlin Film Studios were approved; the Central Film Library, Lucernafilm and Kinotechnika became privatized during the first wave of the coupon privatization scheme, with CS Filmexport to follow during the second wave, while the Praha Film Factory, manufacturing developing equipment, cameras, rewinding machines, examination tables, and editing tables, announced its decision on June 30, 1992, to dissolve the East European market. The Czech Film Institute, however, remained under the Ministry of Culture of the Czech Republic.
Production
For the month ending on the first of October, 1992, we recorded:
127 film and video production companies
6 film distributors
49 advertising agencies
2 film laboratories
17 professional organizations
8 actors' agencies
These figures do not tell the whole story. The majority of these companies have concentrated on the production of advertising, promotional films and the securing of services. Whether or not all the new companies will be able to survive, only time will tell.
The production statistics given below are not complete, due to the end of the central film production files in 1990:
Number of films produced: 1989 1990 1991
feature films 29 38 16
documentary films 72 29 63
newsreels 77 -- --
animated films 62 42 66
Distribution
At present, a number of joint-stock companies, or companies with limited liability, are involved in the distribution of films and are affiliated in the Union of Film Distributors. American films prevail in the cinemas. In 1991, based on sales figures, only three Czech films were in the top ten.
Legislation
On the first of July 1992, the law for the support and development of Czech cinematography by the State Fund of the Czech Republic went into effect. The Fund is a legal body governed by the Ministry of Culture, and the Minister is responsible to the Czech National Council for the utilization of the funds. The Fund Council is responsible for the manner in which the resources are used.
The Fund Council is elected by the Czech National Council at the proposal of the Minister, following negotiations with professional organizations and associations of artists, employers and employees in the field of cinematography. The Fund's resources are only to be used for the creation of Czech films, for publicity, technical development and modernization of Czech cinematography, for the support of distribution of worthwhile films, and for the purchase of films for film clubs. In 1992, the sum of 60 million crowns was obtained for thirty-two projects.
The laws governing film industry were to be changed by the federal legislation on communication media. Due to a disagreement about freedom of the press, however, film industry was removed from this agenda on September 30, 1992. The proposals for the new legislation concerning film industry were intended to abolish the state monopoly on production, distribution, import and export, and included a provision requiring producers to offer free copies of their productions to an institution to be named by the Czech National Council.
The Czech Archive was founded in 1943. Two years later it was merged with the Czechoslovak Film Institute and lost its autonomy. When the Czechoslovak Film Institute was abolished in 1949, the film archive was taken in as a department by various institutions of Czech film industry, until January 1, 1963 when it was added to the newly-formed Czechoslovak Film Institute. From 1964 on, the degree of legal autonomy and independence held by the archive was strengthened, as required by the statutes of FIAF. However, the archive's autonomy did not get support at home or abroad. The Institute was an ideological-political working place. Outside the country, only Jacques Ledoux, the former Secretary General of FIAF and Curator of Cinémathèque Royale in Brussels, supported the archive's struggle for independence. It was commonplace in those days for ignorant, power-hungry, non-specialist directors of the Institute to interfere with the archival activities, and control was in the hands of dilettantes who had to find reasons for discriminatory measures against the archives.
The fall of the Communist regime changed many things but the conflict remained between the goals of the film archive and the interests of the Institute, even though the archive activities were the 70% of the Institute as a whole. Therefore, in 1991, I proposed independence for the film archive and its transformation into the National Archive of the Czech Republic. On the first of July 1992 the Ministry of Culture established the National Film Archive as a public institution financed by the state budget. The support of the government enabled the completion of an addition to the archive building (to the cost of 23 million Kcs) and also the continuation of the preservation program on a scale practically unchanged (about 500,000 meters annually).
Future prospects
In 1993 the National Film Archive celebrates its fiftieth birthday. In January we are opening our own archive theatre. For several years to come we will be processing the documents of former Czechoslovak film companies, which are being gradually surrendered to the care of the archive. By the year 2007 we hope to complete the copying of all remaining nitrate films (150 tons). We are also working towards the computerization of all our activities. We are struggling to convince the Ministry of Finance of the need for a grant for the construction of special storage facilities for color film - we would like to achieve this in time for the hundreth anniversary of cinema.
Problems
The state monopoly made it possible to acquire nearly all of the Czech archival material. The fact that there is at present no law on legal deposit creates unsurmountable problems for the acquisition of new films. There is now the first privately-owned so-called "film archive": the Moravian-Silesian Film Archive. It will not be easy to confront the issues of the break-up of Czechoslovakia. We will, however, find a way.
Le décret de nationalisation de 1945 reste toujours en vigueur et l'Institut Tchèque du Cinéma se trouve toujours sous le contrôle du Ministère de la Culture. Parallèlement, des compagnies privées de production, de distribution, de publicité ainsi que les industries techniques se sont lancées dans la course effrénée des affaires.
L'aperçu global de la structure de production tchèque présenté par Vladimir Opela laisse entrevoir une diminution de la production, malgré le nombre très élevé des nouvelles compagnies du secteur.
Dans le domaine de la distribution on assiste, avec la privatisation des compagnies, groupées en une nouvelle association, à une prise de part de marché prépondérante de la part des productions d'origine américaine. Sur le plan juridique, une nouvelle loi de promotion et de développement de la cinématographie tchèque est entrée en vigueur en juillet 1992.
Au chapitre de l'archivage, il est à relever que les Archives Nationales Tchèques du Cinéma ont obtenu le statut d'une institution publique financée par l'Etat, indépendante de l'Institut du Cinéma. Des crédits spéciaux ont permis l'élargissement des locaux d'archivage et le maintien des programmes de transfert des films.
En 1993, les Archives Nationales du Film célèbrent leur 50ème anniversaire. A cette occasion, elles ouvrent leur propre salle de cinéma. Dans les projets d'avenir sont à signaler un programme de transfert de la totalité des films nitrate sur safety ainsi que la construction de locaux d'archivage pour les films en couleur.
El futuro de las filmotecas en la Europa del Este. El caso de la República Checa.
Bajo el régimen anterior todo el sector de la cinematografía checa estaba controlada por el Departamento de Cultura del Comité Central del Partido Comunista. Por decisión gubernamental de Agosto de 1990 ahora se halla bajo el control de la República Checa, y tutelada por el Ministerio de Cultura.
A pesar de que el decreto de nacionalización de 1945 no ha sido abolido y el Institutto de Cine Checo continúa bajo control del Ministerio de Cultura, las compañias privadas de producción, distribución publicidad y equipamiento técnico han iniciado sus negocios sin restricción alguna.
Vladimir Opela nos presenta una visión de conjunto del sistema de producción checo que revela una disminución de la producción a pesar del gran número de nuevas compañías aparecidas en el sector.
En cuanto a la distribución asistimos, con la privatización, a un predominio en el mercado de productos de origen americano. En el aspecto juridico una nueva ley de promoción y desarrollo de la cinematografía ha entrado en vigor en Julio de 1992.
Hay que destacar que la Filmoteca Checa ha obtenido el estatuto de organismo público financiado por el Estado, independiente del Instituto de Cinematografía. Se han ampliado los locales y se han mantenido los programas de transferencia a seguridad de las películas.
En 1993, con ocasión de la celebración de su cincuenta aniversario, la Filmoteca Nacional abrirá su propria sala de proyección.
Entre los proyectos, cabe destacar el paso a seguridad de todas las películas de nitrato y la construcción de locales adecuados para la conservación de las películas en color.