Many art-house movies are not distributed on DVD in Ireland because the censor's viewing fees are too high. Michael Dwyerlooks at efforts to increase the supply of foreign-language films to the rent-or-buy market
THE range of films available to buy and rent at Irish outlets will be extended significantly when Minister for Justice Michael McDowell, introduces legislation providing revised censorship fees for minority-interest DVD releases. Art-house movies will be the principal beneficiaries of the new legislation, which is likely to be enacted this year.
Many foreign-language films have been passed over for release on the Irish market because their distributors regarded the certification fees as prohibitively high for movies with a limited audience.
The film censor, John Kelleher, has proposed a new two-tier scale for certification, and the Irish Film Censor's Office (Ifco) annual report for 2004 noted that it would be a positive development. "Representations were made to Ifco during 2004 in this regard by both Irish and foreign video distributors," the report notes, "requesting that a lower fee be charged for certifying non-mainstream video titles that might otherwise prove uneconomic to release.
"I believe this to be a reasonable request, and following further discussions with industry representatives, a proposal has been sent to the Department of Justice, Equality and Law Reform for the Minister's consideration."
The Ifco annual report for 2005 reiterated these points, noting that: "Irish and foreign video/DVD distributors are very concerned at the cost of distributing non-mainstream product in Ireland, a market they see as becoming increasingly commercially unviable for them." The report added that the distributors "also believe this would have an impact on reducing piracy".
Following a query from The Ticket regarding the progress of the proposed two-tier scale for certification, the Department of Justice responded this week as follows: "The Department favours the introduction of a reduced certification fee scheme for limited release video/DVD along the lines proposed by the censor. However, to give effect to such an arrangement, primary legislation will be required.
"The necessary legislative provisions are being drafted at present and will be included in the Civil Law (Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill 2006. It is expected that the Bill will be enacted this year, and the introduction of a limited release scheme will follow shortly thereafter."
The new two-tier scale will follow the Minister's introduction of a similar scheme for cinema releases in 2004, on the recommendation of the film censor. "In the past, it cost as much to certify an art-house film as a mainstream one," Kelleher noted. "Now, as a result of the new scale, the cost of an art-house film is one-quarter the cost of a mainstream one, and it is therefore financially feasible for distributors to release such films now."
The proposed new scale for minority-interest films on DVD is long overdue, according to Eoghan Burke, head of sales at Sony BMG, which represents a number of art-house DVD distributors in Ireland. "In June 2004 a new cost structure for the certification of DVD/video was introduced," he notes, "and since then virtually all new art-house and niche titles available to buy in Irish retailers have dried up, bar the more commercially viable, forcing Irish buyers onto the internet to source their art house titles. There are now thousands of titles that have never been released for the Irish market.
"It has also forced a number of smaller labels like Arrow, Network, Eureka and BFI to stop releasing titles on DVD for general release in Ireland due to the cost involved and the fact that they will only sell a limited amount. It's a shame that the Irish public is being denied a huge range of product purely on the basis that they are too expensive to get certified."
Among the many art-house classics he cites as being passed over for the Irish market because of the cost of certification are Bicycle Thieves, Rififi, The Sorrow and the Pity, Rome Open City, and recent box sets of films directed by Claude Chabrol and Eric Rohmer, both of which I bought online.
By law, all films and DVDs have to be certified by the censor's office before they are made available to the public, and the costs are based on the running times of the films. Films deemed to be of educational value are exempt from certification fees, and this generally applies to documentaries.
Before the new scheme was introduced, the German war movie Downfall, which runs for 155 minutes and was released at just two Irish cinemas, would have cost significantly more in certification fees than Shrek 2, which runs for 92 minutes and earned €5.3 million at the Irish box-office.
Downfall was one of the first films to benefit from the new scheme, whereby films released on six screens or fewer are charged at €3 per minute, and films on wider release pay €12 per minute.
The 2005 Ifco report notes: "There was a marked increase in the number of non-mainstream or 'art-house' films certified, i.e. subtitled, low-budget, indigenous, minority-interest films, etc. In the past such films might only have been seen at festivals or through a members' club because of distribution costs. The increase is substantially attributable to the effect of the reduction in Ifco's certification fees, introduced by you [the minister] in 2004."
The report notes that 75 films on limited cinema release qualified under the scheme in 2005, among them Maria Full of Grace, The Last Mitterand, March of the Penguins, The Woodsman, Merry Christmas (Joyeux Noël) and the Oscar-winning Spanish drama The Sea Inside. The number of feature films certified for cinema exhibition rose from 196 in 2001 to 252 in 2005. The number of certified "video works" almost doubled in the same period, from 5,330 to 9,632. Cleary, the DVD market has grown enormously yet art-house movies remain marginalised.
Under the present rates for video/DVD certification, the charge is €10 per minute for any film under an hour long, €8 per minute for any film over an hour and under two hours, and €6 per minute for any film over two hours. All extras - commentaries, making-of documentaries, trailers - are charged at a flat rate of €50 per item.
However, whereas it was possible to introduce the two-tier scheme for cinema releases by way of a Ministerial order under the Censorship of Films (1923) Act, any similar amendment regarding video/DVD releases requires a legislative change to the Video Recordings Act.
www.ifco.ie
