Kinematograph year book (1939)

26 The Kinematograph Year Book. by State-owned E.N.I.C. (Ente Nazionale Industrie Cinematografiche), the largest distribution enterprise, endowed with a capital of 10 million lire and possessing branches in all Italian key cities. Import Regulations. — A remarkable step towards the establishment of a National Film Trust, comprising Luce, U.N.E.P. and E.N.I. C, was a decree issued in September, 1938, under which the latter was given an absolute monopoly, effective from January 1, 1939, for the import and distribution of foreign films ; a privileged number of Italian distributors-importers were permitted to continue their business activities as " Agents of the Monopoly." while foreign firms might be appointed " Concessionaires of the Monopoly" by a special licence, revokable at any time. As a protest, M-G-M, Fox, Paramount and Warner Eros, decided to close their Italian offices and withdraw from that market altogether ; other American companies are said to have made a temporary arrangement with E.N.I.C. To boost the production of non-Italian language films in domestic studios, exemption from the synchronisation tax is provided if they are dubbed into Italian for local consumption. Tariff duties on films are : unprinted, sensitised, 3,740 lire, and unprinted, unsensitised, 1,870 lire per 100 kilos, printed, 80.70 lire per 100 metres. Censorship and Taxation. — Censorship at a fee of 0.36 lire per metre is rigorous, foreign films being subjected to an arbitrary treatment based on moral as well as political considerations. The entertainments "tax amounts to 10 per cent, on tickets costing up to 1 lira and 20 per cent, on other tickets. POLAND. Legislation and Organisation. — No change, excepting that domestic films to be exported require a visa by a special governmental committee, bent on preventing the prestige of the country being damaged by the showing abroad of inferior productions. Efforts on the part of the Government to enhance the scope of films (only 769 permanent kinemas, with 272,812 seats, existed for 33 million inhabitants at the beginning of 1938) caused the official Polish news agency, P.A.T. (Polska Agencja Telegraficzna), which also produces news reels and documentaries, to order 200 sound film projectors of American make, which are to be sold on easy terms mainly to small communities. Production was increased slightly to 26 features in the 1937-38 season ; but the average quality leaves much to be desired. Quota and Import Regulations. — -The general import and foreign exchange regulations in force since 1936 provide for a virtual 10 pei cent, exhibition quota of '* Polish " features (either domestic productions or foreignmade films with a Polish theme) and import contingent of 5,800 kilos per annum allocated to distributors in proportion to their average imports in 1933-34-35, with adjustments for newly licensed firms. Germany is favoured by a special co-operative agreement, which also regulates the clearing of the mutual royalties. Import duty amounts to 80 zloty per kilo on negatives, 110 zloty per kilo on positives and 5.50 zloty per kilo on raw sto-k (conventional rates), plus 10 per cent, for customs expenses ; there being no laboratories equipped for printing colour positives, the duty on them was reduced to 44 zloty per kilo. A project prepared by the Ministry of Commerce for the creation of a Film Fund intended to subsidise domestic production by a special tax of 1 zloty per metre of imported film, has met with the threat by American distributors to abandon the Polish market, and may not be realised.