Year book of motion pictures (1951)

Government trade restrictions on the showing of foreign films have been in effect in the United Kingdom since 1927. Effective October 1. 1950. .'to per cent of the first feature films exhibited in Kritish theaters and 25 per cent of the supporting films (second features and shorts) must be British productions. The so-called Eady Plan to assist the British film industry was put into operation in September 1950. This plan calls for an increase in the entertainment tax on tickets costing over 1 shilling 6 pence (about 21 cents) to establish a subsidy to be used by the British film producers, distributors, and exhibitors. It has been estimated that approximately 3,000.000 pounds sterling ($8,400,000) will be made available annually from this fund. Separate import licenses have been required for all motion picture films except newsreels since May 1948. The National Film Finance Corporation was established in March 1949 and was given 5,000,000 pounds sterling as an operating fund from which loans could be made to assist British producers. In March 1950. (he Corporation in its first annual report stated that loans were granted for the production of 63 films, of which 21 had been exhibited, 14 as first feature films. In July 1950 Parliament voted an additional 1.000.000 pounds sterlin? to be used by the Corporation. YDGOSL.WI.V — The motion picture industry in Yugoslavia has been nationalized and all phases of the industry including production, distribution, and exhibition are entirely controlled by the Government. In October 1948. an agreement was signed with the Yugoslav Government providing for the purchase of 25 U. S. features to be paid for in dollars. This agreement was significant in that U. S. films again entered this market and also it represented a reversal in the film policy of the Yugoslav Government. Prior to the agreement the oflicial attitude was one of hostility to U. S. films and to encourage showing of Soviet pictures. There is an indication that the trend toward re-appearance of U. S. films has been accelerated and it may be accurate to state that U. S. films are now predominant in Yugoslavia. CANADA United States motion pictures enter and are distributed freel.v throughout Canada without quota or exhibition restrictions. The Canadian distributor is permitted to remit, at the going, or current, rate of exchange, to the United States producer the net profits on rentals and royalties, less a withholding tax of 10 per cent. The rate of exchange at the close of 1950 was $1.05 Canadian for $1.00 U. S. The permission granted by the Foreign Exchange Control Board for such remittances can be withdrawn at the Board's discretion if the Cajiadian foreign exchange position should warrant it. SOUTH ARGENTINA — Since March 1949 the Argentine Governm<>nt has not issued permits for the importation of United States films and no remittances of film earnings have been authorized for several years. Negotiations carried on in Washington and New York early in 1950 between the Argentine Minister of Finance and the major United States film companies resulted in a new five-year agreement covering United States film operations in Argentina. Major provisions of the agreement were the unrestricted entry of U. S. films into Argentina and remittances to be authorized at the rate of $1,100,000 annually. Since May 1950 this agreement has been under consideration for purposes of ratification by the Argentine Government; however, at the close of 1950 it had not been ratified and as far as is known no import permits had been granted and no dollar exchange had been made available for remittances of film earnings. The Argentine Government issued a new decree, dated August 9, 1950. affording Argentine producers further protection in the exhibition of their films. Previously, first-run theaters had to show Argentine films one week out of every mouth and other theaters were required to exhibit Argentine films two weeks out of every five. Under the new decree, first-run theaters and other principal theaters of the suburbs, called intermediate theaters, must show Argentine pictures one week out of every month, while all other theaters must exhibit Argentine pictures three weeks out of every six. The decree also states that should the receipts from the Argentine film be equal to 80 per cent of the "holdover requirement" for foreign films, the Argentine film will continue in the first-run theater for another and subsequent weeks. The new decree augments the minimum percentage of gross receipts which the Argentine exhibitor must pay as a rental for Argentine films. First-run theaters must pay as rental at least 50 per cent, intermediate theaters 45 per cent, and other theaters 40 per cent during the first week of exhibition, and 30 per cent during subsequent weeks. BOLIV'1.4 — Import permits are required for motion pictures and are granted on the basis of the amount of foreign exchange allocated by the AMERICA Minister of Finance. During 1949. a monthly quota of $18,000 was allocated for motion pictures during the first three quarters of the year; no allocation was made for the fourth quarter. The Ministry of Finance allotted $140,000 for the importation of .35-mm. entertainment films for the year 1950 and $10,000 for 16-mm. films. The iillotment for .'io-nim. films is distributed among the three importers as follows: $55,000 to one, $45,000 to one, and $40,000 to the other. Two of the importers bring in films on the basis of a fixed cost with payment made at the time of importation, the other imports films on a percentage basis. Because of the restrictions in the granting of foi-eign exchange, Bolivia imported fewer pictures in 1949 and 1950. and theaters maintained their operations by using old films which already had been exhibited several times. ltR.\ZIL — ^Import permits are required. The Bank of Brazil in September 1950 informed the fi"m companies that new import quotas, beginning with the second quarter of 1951. would be allocated on the basis of average imports for the preceding four years (1946-49). Quotas issued during 1950 and the first quarter of 1951 had been based on averasre 1946-48 import volume. Efforts made by foreign film distributors to have film import quotas increased met with little success as in most cases import quotas will remain unchanged. Dollar remittances for film earnings aa of the close of 1950 were satisfactory. At the end of October 1950 the transfer of first category film remittances (70 per cent of the total earnings) was current through September. The transfer of second category remittances (the remaining 30 per cent) was current through May 1950. In June 1950 regulations were issued increasing from three to six the number of Brazilian feature films which must be exhibited in the theaters annually. BRITISH Ori.iXA — Other than the regulation that 10 per cent British feature films and 50 per cent British newsreels must be shown annually, there are no quota measures which might reduce or prevent distribution of U. S. films. All film revenue from British Guiana is remitted to the 725