Greece needs new film law

More than a 100 film directors plan to boycott the 50th Thessaloniki International Film Festival in mid-November because the Greek government refuses to pass new legislation for the film branch. The leftist daily Ta Nea writes: "This time the filmmakers' revolution has nothing to do with the problems of the branch but targets the weakness, ignorance and inability of the state to pass a new film law. For 22 years the same old film law has applied which was supposed to be overhauled several times in the past few years … . But the parliament just ignores it. With a new law Greek cinema could be competitive once more, … and the Greek state could make bigger profits. … This raises the question of why the Greek state isn't interested. There are many reasons, but the main one is the senile and bureaucratic brains of the ministers in question, who can't bring themselves to see the film branch as something creative and competitive."

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