Cinematic Development Company (Colombia)

Cinematic Development Company

Compañía de Fomento Cinematográfico
Agency overview
Formed	28 July 1978 (1978-07-28)
Dissolved	17 January 1993 (1993-01-17)
Superseding agency	Ministry of Communications
Headquarters	Bogotá, D.C.
Parent agency	Colombian Institute of Culture

The Cinematic Development Company, also known as FOCINE, was a Colombian government agency established in 1978, FOCINE was in charge of the Colombian National Film Fund, whose purpose was to design, execute, produce and promote the development of the country's film industry through public policies dictated by the Colombian government. During its period of operation, FOCINE laid the foundations for a new stage of Colombian cinema, which allowed different productions from the country to be taken to international film festivals, obtaining important recognition worldwide and positioning Colombian cinema as one of the most important in America, and the eventual evolution into the Film Development Fund - Proimágenes Colombia. However, according to recent critics, it was considered a closed and politicized entity that only sponsored renowned filmmakers and not amateurs.^[1]

The first existing antecedent for the development of the Public Policy of Cinema in Colombia is the formulation of Law 9 of 1942^[2] which promotes the development of the film industry in Colombia, generating tax exemptions and facilities for film makers within Colombian territory, which coincides with the golden age of Colombian cinema, led by the Acevedo Brothers who produced most of the film content in the country at that time. However, the film crisis of the early 1950s led to a large part of the large film production houses in the country disappearing or becoming, as in the case of Cine Colombia, exclusively distributors or exhibitors of film productions from abroad.

Around the 70s, Colombian cinema had several feature length fiction films with international co-production, goes through a stage where new directors produced documentary films, specialized in social criticism and the needs of a country that lived in the midst of an explosive political and civil situation, causing the interest of many to create productions that attended world-class film festivals obtaining awards that generated within the country's film circle a concept called Overpriced Short, caused by the promulgation of Decree 879 of 1971^[3][4] that promulgates a screen quota and tax and customs exceptions for the importation of cinematographic material in Colombia, in this period stand out Oiga, Vea (1971), Chircales (1972) and Que es la Democracia (en: What is democracy?) (1972).^[5]

From these experiences that reactivated the national cinema, the government of the then president Alfonso López Michelsen decided to create an entity in charge of promoting the development of a growing cinema but with financing problems to be able to develop it within the Colombian territory, and thus through Decree 1924 of July 28, 1978, the Cinematic Development Company - FOCINE was born.^[6]

López Michelsen appointed Isadora de Norden as its first director. She managed FOCINE from 1978 to 1982, creating a series of measures that would strengthen the development of Colombian films supported by the Fund, such as the development loans administered by ProExpo, the management of policies to make imports of film material more flexible, and the promotion of the screening of national films in movie theaters within Colombia, at a time when American and Mexican productions dominated the market for screenings in the country. With the development loan measure, what was sought was that if the producer could not pay the credits for productions, then FOCINE would become the owner of the film and could distribute it, exhibit it, and keep it indefinitely, obtaining the profits to strengthen the Fund.^[7]

In 1982, María Emma Mejía took over as Director of FOCINE. During her time at the company, she developed a new model of special credit development for producers with a recognized resume, eliminating the mortgage on productions, changing the program and strengthening the projection of filmmakers who would receive funds in a more flexible way to produce in Colombia. In addition, that same year, FOCINE also became a production company, which increased a series of dynamics that allowed new directors to promote their productions throughout the country and to be able to exhibit them at international festivals, where many of them received important awards, highlighting that the work A Man of Principle by Francisco Norden became the first Colombian film selected to compete at the Cannes Film Festival.^[8]

The FOCINE era, although not a golden age in Colombian cinema, marked a milestone due to the enormous success of several Colombian films, despite the fact that the failed promotion of some films caused them to become cult films years later.^[9][10][11]

However, despite the international success of Colombian films from the FOCINE era at film festivals, the box office was a cause of the failure of the Cinematic Development Company, causing that in 1992, while preparing the launch of its last production as a film promotion entity: The Strategy of the Snail, Decree 2125 of December 29^[12] was issued declaring the liquidation of the company that for 16 years had been the home of Colombian cinema.^[13][14][15] Ending its liquidation in 1993, national cinema was left without state funds, surviving by resuming international co-production, until Law 397 of 1997, in the midst of the birth of the Ministry of Culture, the Fund for Cinematographic Development - Proimagenes en Movimiento was born, which years later would become Proimagenes Colombia.^[16]

Between 1978 and 1993, FOCINE produced around 31 feature films, 139 medium-length films, 2 short films and 1 feature film and 11 short films on video, highlighting the works of directors such as Gustavo Nieto Roa, Camila Loboguerrero, Sergio Cabrera, Víctor Gaviria, among others who are today references of national cinema and who years later would promote the development of new policies for the Colombian film sector.

Currently, the entity that survived the liquidation of FOCINE is the Fundación Patrimonio Fílmico Colombiano (en:Colombian Film Heritage Foundation), which was founded in 1986 as an initiative of the former FOCINE, with the District Cinematheque, Cine Colombia and the former Inravisión (today RTVC).^[17]