20/05/2013 - Aurélie Filipetti and Androulla Vassiliou were guest speakers at the Europa Cinemas conference in Cannes

Europa Cinemas President Ian Christie announced at the European exhibitors conference in Cannes that he is stepping back from his appointment and switching position with former vice president Nico Simon. "An exhibitor should be president of Europa Cinemas and that is Nico," he said. Nico Simon is the CEO of the Utopia Group, which operates 90 screens and 16 theatres in Luxembourg but also has cinemas in Belgium, France and the Netherlands.

"Cinemas have often taken their audience for granted. We can no longer do that and have to listen to them," Christie stressed. "The communication is a process." How cinemas can maintain their audience will also be one of the key topics at the 18th Europa Cinemas Network Conference, which will take place November 21-24 in Athens. "The cinemas need to increase their reputation as places that film-makers have made their films for," underlined Europa Cinemas Director-General Claude-Eric Poiroux.

The cinema network, which comprises more than 1,000 theatres has been founded to screen European films. "That is what we should focus on," emphasized Poiroux. "Europa Cinemas want to defend the release windows because that is what guarantees the economic strength. This model has worked for a long time. Let‘s not destroy that. If a film is released theatrically the money comes from the box office and goes to the producers. With VOD this is not clear because there is no transparency. I believe Europa Cinemas is in danger because of that."

Another hot topic at the conference were the upcoming negotiations on the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP) that will start on June 14. "The cultural exception should be excluded," said French Culture Minister Aurélie Filipetti at the conference. "The next step will be decided by the trade ministers," added European Education and Culture Commissioner Androulla Vassiliou. Meanwhile German MEP Doris Pack called on all industry representatives to advocate the cultural exception and to write protest emails to the European Parliament. "We have to act now," she warned. "When the negotiations have already started, it will be too late."