Barriers and opportunities for cinema distribution in European minority languages. The case of O que arde in the Digital Single Market

As barreiras que existen para a distribución do cinema europeo –problemas coa distribución internacional e as diferentes prácticas de tradución audiovisual– teñen un forte impacto nos filmes producidos nas linguas minoritarias europeas, o que provoca que lles sexa difícil competir con producións de maior escala. Aínda que as linguas minoritarias e rexionais están protexidas pola lexislación europea e a diversidade e un elemento central da narrativa da Unión, as políticas audiovisuais non refiren directamente esta protección. Este artigo examina a lexislación conectada coas linguas minoritarias, por unha banda, e o cinema, pola outra, e presenta o caso de estudo do filme producido en galego O que arde (Oliver Lasxe, 2019) para analizar os desafíos aos que se enfrontan os cinemas pequenos no Mercado Único Digital.

The barriers which exist for European cinema distribution – problems with international distribution, and different practices of audiovisual translation – have a great impact in films produced in European minority languages, meaning that they find it hard to compete with larger-scale productions. Although minority and regional languages are protected by EU legislation and diversity is a key element in the Union’s narrative, audiovisual policies do not directly address this protection. This article examines legislation connected with minority languages, on the one hand, and cinema, on the other, and presents a case study on the film produced in Galician O que arde (Oliver Laxe, 2019) to analyse the challenges that small cinemas face in the Digital Single Market.