Irish cinema is seen by millions abroad but struggles at home – European Research reveals
The European research project CresCine is investigating the challenges and opportunities faced by small film markets like Ireland’s. One notable finding so far is that people in Ireland go to the cinema approximately three times a year (more than in most EU countries), but 95 per cent of cinema admissions in Ireland were for foreign-produced films – a relatively low rate of domestic consumption. Uniquely in Europe, Ireland’s booming industry is finding success on the international stage while not always drawing large crowds at home.
Ireland: A nation of cinema-goers and the potential for Irish storytelling
Ireland is a cinema-going nation. Irish people went to the cinema 10.5m times in 2022 – that’s an average of three times a year per person. Ireland is also a production hub for international hits like Poor Things (2023). Irish domestic productions and coproductions are very popular abroad, especially fiction films and animations, but are less well-attended at home, compared to the overall popularity of cinema-going. National films’ share was 1.5% in 2021 and 5% in 2022. The trend is upwards however, with 2023 set to show further growth in Irish film-going – all pointing to a pathway forward for Irish cinema given continued support.
Rónán Ó Muirthile, Head of Faculty at Dun Laoghaire Institute of Art, Design and Technology said: “The story here is that post-Covid there are real prospects for growing the domestic film sector. Irish people go to the cinema much more than their European counterparts, and given the option of authentic Irish stories that are well told, they will quite happily move away from international fare. We can learn too from other small countries’ experiences through projects like Crescine on how to best unlock that potential.”
Image caption: Excerpt from CresCine Report Small European Film Markets: Portraits and Comparisons.
Investigating the challenges of small film producing markets in Europe
It is trends like the large variation in success of film at home and abroad that the European research project “CresCine” is investigating. The research project’s leader Manuel Damasio from Lusofona University in Lisbon highlights that “the economic and cultural importance of local film industries in small countries and regions and their contribution to the overall competitiveness and diversity of the EU film market are the main reasons why the CresCine project has been investigating what makes small film-producing European countries and regions special and how they cope with the competition from large countries like the USA.” The project’s new research report called “Small European Film Markets: Portraits and Comparisons” shows that home audiences alone cannot sustain the local film industries in small countries and regions. This is why the film industries there have to come up with different strategies for how to fund and produce films and their choices affect what kinds of films are being produced and how and where we get to see them.
Seven very different markets during a time of change in the film industry
The CresCine research project studies seven small film producing countries and regions: Ireland, Denmark, Estonia, Lithuania, Portugal, Croatia and Flanders in Belgium. The choice of markets covered in the project reflects not only different geographical positions, but also countries and regions with very different film production cultures.
Jakob Isak Nielsen from Aarhus University, who has been leading the report explains: “The Baltic regions, for example, have seen a huge transformation of their film production and cinema infrastructure after the end of the Soviet Union. Croatia has developed a significant production service economy attracting foreign productions like The Hitman’s Wife’s Bodyguard (2021) to the country.” His colleague Marius Øfsti, who has been investigating how films from small countries perform at festivals exemplifies that “Denmark and Flanders have recently had productions with high critical acclaim and international export like Oscar-winner Another Round (2020) or Close (2022) which won Grand Prix at Cannes.”
The report traces the development of the seven selected small markets across nine years from 2014 to 2022 which have seen the expansion of global streaming services as well as the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic and the economic downturn on film production as well as cinemas.
Cathrin Bengesser, also from Aarhus University, explains that although films from small countries are often well represented on local services “most globally operating streaming services like Netflix do not feature a large choice of films from small markets. This is a problem because the market leaders’ choices affect the diversity of film culture audiences in Europe have easy access to.”
Larger film producing markets in Europe more strategically oriented towards export
Ivana Kostovska from imec-SMIT-Vrije Universiteit in Brussels has been investigating the export of films from the ‘Big five’ European markets and Poland in key export territories and found that “although France is the strongest exporter of film compared to the other 12 markets in terms of total number of admissions, films from Ireland and Flanders have achieved highest average admissions shares in US than French films.” The analysis of the export patterns also shows that the large markets we studied typically engage with more diverse production partners compared to most of the small markets. Based on analyses of the ‘Big five’ markets and Poland, Kostovska and her colleagues Ulrike Rohn and Ana Falcon from Tallinn University conclude that the large markets are much more strategically oriented towards export than most of the small countries.
Films from the USA, however, dominate the European cinematic landscape and Ana Falcon from Tallin University points out that “US films’ strong orientation towards franchises that pushes their success in European cinemas. 87 of the top 100 US films in the 13 European markets we studied were based on existing intellectual property.”
Access to the report Small European Film Markets: Portraits and Comparisons
The website https://www.crescine.eu/small-film-industries presents detailed information on the seven small film markets. The report’s core are its 67 interactive data visualizations, offering users the ability to customize market comparisons and track trends. Jakob Isak Nielsen from Aarhus University explains: “The report is made for professionals from the film industries and policy makers. It allows access to relevant data on film production, distribution, exhibition and reception in one place. It gives the reader the opportunity to easily compare the situation across different markets.” You can delve into portraits of each small film ecosystem. You can jump directly to the key takeaways. You can compare performance indicators across the film production value chain. The website also compares the seven selected small markets to six larger markets, focusing on strategic positioning, film export, VoD catalogues, performance of films on Netflix and festival awards.
More on the research project CresCine
The research project CresCine started in 2023 and will run until 2026. It is funded by the European Union’s Horizon Europe research programme (Grant number: 101094988). The project responded to the European Commission’s Call for research into the potential of Cultural and Creative Industries as a driver of innovation and competitiveness in Europe. The project has been awarded 4 million Euros. The consortium consists of 16 research and industry organizations in 10 countries. More information on the participating organisations and the project’s output can be found online at www.crescine.eu.
Contacts
Contact for questions about the performance of the Irish Film Industry:
IADT:
- Dr Judith Pernin, Judith.pernin@iadt.ie
- Rónán Ó’Muirthile, Ronan.O’Muirthile@iadt.ie
Contact for questions about the Report “Small European Film Markets”:
- Jakob Isak Nielsen, Aarhus University, jakobisak@cc.au.dk, +4530587398
- Cathrin Bengesser, Aarhus University, cbengesser@cc.au.dk, +4593522071
Contact for questions about the project:
- Manuel José Damásio, Universidade Lusófona, mjdamasio@ulusofona.pt
- Leticia Morais, Storytek Innovation and Venture Studio Tallinn, leticia@storytek.eu
