International filmmakers working in France and Poland have received additional funding and support from their governments to continue productions amid the pandemic.

As part of the Variety Streaming Room: The Big Restart in partnership with Focus London, and presented by Film France and the Polish Film Institute, panelists discussed the opportunities available for filmmakers in France and Poland, and how productions are innovating and operating with pandemic protocols.

Those taking part in the session on Poland were producers Ewa Puszczyńska, whose credits include Oscar winner “Ida” and Oscar nominee “Cold War”; and Mariusz Włodarski, whose recent films include Poland’s 2021 Oscar entry, “Never Gonna Snow Again.” The panelists taking part in the French session were producers John Bernard, whose credits include “Inception” and “Dunkirk”; Raphaël Benoliel, whose credits include “Mission: Impossible – Fallout” and “Emily in Paris”; and Vincent Florant, director of digital for the French National Center for Cinema. The moderators for Variety were international editor Manori Ravindran and China bureau chief Becky Davis.

“The Big Restart has in fact two meanings. … The first one is the very obvious one, which is the industry had to stop because of the pandemic and it has to restart again,” said managing director of Focus London Jean-Frédéric Garcia. “But there is, I believe, another current here, which is the fact that the industry had to stop highlighted some inequalities and precarities that the few months have unraveled within the industry. The model that we were used to working with, I don’t think will be quite very efficient to a certain extent from now on.”

The French panelists said adapting to shooting amid the pandemic has not been as much of a “nightmare” as previously anticipated and that through safety protocols and regulations, productions have been able to continue on schedule and have not stopped since May. The Polish producers emphasized the need to innovate in response to coronavirus restrictions and delayed productions to ensure storylines are not compromised.

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