Public Support, Long-Term Value

Public support for the screen industries rests on a conviction, not a courtesy: the moving image is not a commodity like any other, and the market alone will not produce the range and depth of works a society needs to see and understand itself. At regional, national and international levels, public support has long gone where the market would not — backing new voices, enabling risk-taking, preserving works, and investing in research, skills and infrastructure beyond the reach of any single project. Not a rivalry, but a complementarity. Yet what each side is best placed to carry is changing. This session examines how public support can become more agile, work more closely with industry and focus where it can have the greatest catalytic effect — in service of the long-term value the industry depends on.