The lion share of its 2011 budget - i.e. €20.1m - will go towards film and television production. Films for children and youth will be granted €770,000 for production and €110,000 for distribution and the ongoing digitization of screens €1.45 million.
Wallin cited the government's support to screen digitization since 2008 as one of the reasons behind last year's 27% market share for Finnish films. However, he expressed concern over the impact of YLE's financial crisis on the Finnish Film Foundation.
According to Petri Kemppinen, (photo) head of Production at the Finnish Film Foundation, 10 fewer documentaries and 10 fewer short films were financed in 2010 compared to 2009 because of YLE's financial problems. Although the public broadcaster also lowered its support to local feature films, the overall picture was "less drastic" as it was counter-balanced by a higher investment from the commercial stations MTV3 and Nelonen.
Meanwhile, the Finnish Film Foundation has handed out to the government its Target Programme 2011-2015. Among its recommendations is the increase of its film production and distribution budget to €33 million - on par with other Nordic countries - the increase of the funds for digital cinema conversion to €4 million per year to fully convert all Finnish screens by 2013, and the insertion of YLE's obligations to the Finnish film and audiovisual sector into the Public Broadcasting Act.