"The film industry in America is DYING a very rapid death", writes President Donald Trump on his social media platform Truth Social. To stop this, he is instructing the American Department of Commerce to "immediately" start working on a 100-percent tariff on all films produced abroad.
Firstly, the American film industry is not dying, it's enough to look at the streaming services – that's film too, says Eva Hamilton.
She sees them as an effective way to "cut off one's country" from all cultural, human, and political influences from outside.
It's a way to create a "Skansen" of the USA, which he is on his way to doing in other areas as well. If you raise this type of nationalist barriers, it will have very large consequences also for how people think, learn, and open up to other impulses in the world, she.
Collaborations
Moreover, the American film industry needs to shoot their movies in other countries, emphasizes Eva Hamilton, who guesses that the protests from the industry will be "enormous".
Trump's administration "seems to have missed the fact that 70 percent of their cinema revenue comes from the rest of the world, and that most of it today is about collaborations", emphasizes Anna Croneman, CEO of the Film Institute, in an email to TT.
Culture Minister Parisa Liljestrand (M) also says that "everyone will lose on tariffs".
"They risk, among other things, making things more expensive and increasing costs, and within, for example, the film area, the risk is great that they would affect the supply and thus access to film", she writes in a comment.
Shooting oneself in the foot
Film production in Hollywood has decreased, writes, among others, The Guardian, and Donald Trump's first action was to appoint veterans Mel Gibson, Sylvester Stallone, and Jon Voight total age 233, notes The Guardian) to "special ambassadors" to rescue American film.
Blockbusters like "Deadpool & Wolverine", "Wicked", and "Gladiator II" were all shot abroad, writes BBC. Even a large part of their series and films are made in countries like South Korea, India, Hungary, and Nigeria, admits Eva Hamilton. Parallel to this, an AI-revolution is taking place in the industry.
To say that Hollywood hasn't kept up is right, but to stop all foreign knowledge sounds like shooting oneself in the foot, says she.
