Gerekou: Turning Greece into Hollywood

From the definitive solution for the National Museum of Contemporary Art at the FIX building to finally begin operating to a series of incentives to attract large foreign film productions and the strengthening of Greek filmmakers.

The chief issue in contemporary culture in Greece, and one that will shape the landscape of urban civilization is the National Museum of Contemporary Art. The transfer to a permanent home in the renovated FIX building is ready but not yet delivered and will not be until [pending issues are resolved. At the same time a 3 million donation made by the Stavros Niarchos Foundation can not be released, as the committee needed to manage this amount has not yet been established. The Minister of Culture last week stated to Kathimerini newspaper that delays are due to misunderstandings between the Board with the artistic director Anna Kafetsi. The deputy minister today was clear and revealing: Within the next few days there will be changes in the composition of the Board - some members will be subject to change and there is no question of removing the artistic director, who is literally the lifeblood of the museum. She gave a long battle with adverse conditions for managing to transfer the museum to the FIX building, while strengthening the identity and collection.

There is a however, a hazy point. Ms Gerekou said that the addition of a new person to the museum may be necessary. Asked if by the press if she is refering to the administrative director she did not want to agree with the title, but highlighted that "in any case the artistic dimension, the artistic direction of the project is Ms Kafetsi's." This poses a question of dualism, and how this would work. The culture of public organizations in Greece has shown that dualism never worked. Ms Gerekou said that the immediate operation of the whole museum and not just parts, or some halls) is high on the prime minister's agenda. As for the 1.7 million euros needed for the operation of the museum (equipment, staff, etc.), it will be covered by the Public Investment Program.

We are to become Hollywood (sort of)
What Ms Gerekou was obviously anxious to talk about was cinema, and specifically, the attraction of foreign producers. With very arduous and prevalent bureaucracy and high fees chasing away productions that had expressed an interest (such as Oliver Stone's Alexander the Great or Reni Charlin's Hercules), and the phenomenal publicity received by the country through the film "The Two Faces of January,” facilitating foreign film productions is a serious issue. It should be noted that a film with a budget of 1 million euros, pays 600 to 1,000 euros for every minute Filmmakers shoot at an archaeological site.

Thus it was decided to consolidate all the Joint Ministerial Decisions from past years on issues of photographing archaeological sites, into one, which will be reviewed by the Central Archeological Council on 14 October. In this way, interested producers will get a license within 10 days (instead of waiting for months as now, oftengetting a negative response). The monuments belonging to Unesco will be available only after approval by the CAC - and again through a speedier process.

A working group of the Ministry of Culture and the Ministry of Finance are working on establishing tax incentives for major foreign film producers. Of great importance for Greek filmmakers is the decision to eliminate (or, to shrink) charges for filmmakers at archaeological sites for Greek films financed by the Film Center or supervised by a public sector body. "It's like giving them money to make the movie and then taking it back," said the deputy minister. The goal of the interventions for the movie industry is clearly "to make Greece into a Mecca for Film." And this with the law voted in 2010 providing for the payment of 1.5% of annual gross revenue of private channels to the Film Centre to boost domestic film production still not implemented (only Nova pays the dues).

Camerata and Makis Giakoumatos
Referring to a document circulating since summer and refers to a merger of the State Orchestra with the Camerata, the deputy minister was categorical: "There is no such issue. We have never discussed this proposal." She also announced that it was decided to give the Camerata 100,000 euros soon to be followed by more, to the Greek orchestra that triumphs abroad, sweeping awards and reviews, so that there is no danger of it being silenced.

Ms Gerekou, however, was almost angry with the question of the abolition of fixed book prices. "I fought as a deputy not to pass the law. The situation is dramatic. I have already spoken with deputy minister Makis Giakoumatos,and he pledged to review the caseand fix it. "The only other time she raised her voice is when she refered to the troika saying "let us at last produce wealth.”