Standing at the Crossroads

ANIMATION WORLD MAGAZINE - ISSUE 5.12 - MARCH 2001

Standing at the Crossroads
(continued from page 1)

The local workforce (50% of the island's population is under 25 years old!) has access to a variety of high quality education channels in new technologies, IT and communications, including the artistic education provided by the "école supérieure des beaux-arts et des métiers artistiques de la Réunion" (superior school of fine-arts and artistic trades of la Réunion) and the Institut de l'Image de l'Océan Indien (ILOI or Image Institue of the Indian Ocean).

One potential weak link in this chain could be the connection between the island and the rest of the world, but at the time of writing, there are serious efforts being made to remedy that. ADSL is increasingly available, and the fiber optics cable "SAFE" (South Africa Far East) is being brought in from South Africa. The island itself is already extensively wired, so this major problem is being addressed by people who are only too aware of the importance of the pipes.

Views of Piton de la Fournaise, a basaltic shield volcano that forms the southeast half of Réunion Island.

Rather than going through a lengthy listing of all the aid programmes available to investors, I will refer the reader to the "Comité de Pilotage de l'Industrie" ("CPI," the industry steering committee) and its "chargé de mission," Mr. Paul Hibon, who can be reached via email at: cpirun@guetali.fr; phone: 02 62 922492; fax: 02 62 922488; and URL: http://wwwcpi.asso.fr. Many of these programmes can actually cover 50% or more of all production costs and can be applied over time to many aspects of those costs, including capital costs, taxes, labour costs and much more.

The rocky cliff shore of Cap Méchant or Mean Cape.

All the Island Offers
The Crossroads conference started with a presentation by representatives from the State, Region and CNC (National Cinematographic Centre) on the following theme: "La Réunion, land of production and fabrication of animation cinema." This presentation stressed the immense commonality of the efforts brought to Réunion by the different levels of government. It served as a strong reminder that the island is a part of Europe and France, and reflected the European approach of helping regions, something we North Americans may want to reflect upon. (Should we just "dump" less productive/fortunate regions, or help develop them with public moneys?)

Another question pertinent to North American projects was asked during this presentation: "Can all this financial help apply to projects that would not be realized in French?" The answer was twofold: "As of right now, the regulations are such that much of the help applies to productions made in French. However, if such a project (non-French) ever surfaces, we can guarantee you that whatever is needed will be done to make it viable and eligible to the same financial help as are the French language based projects." I want to emphasize the strong sense of "can do" attitude exuded by those in decision-making positions, something quite unlike much of the European bureaucratic "red tape" and hurdles with which this person is only too familiar.

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