The Borders of the Domestic Market and Their Importance for the Economy of the Film Industry. The Swiss Case Study

This study analyses the economic relevance of the domestic market for national film industries, adopting first a historical and theoretical approach, and then by using Switzerland as a case study for quantitative research on film consumption.The analysis of the Swiss film market has a triple purpose: (1) to confirm the importance of the domestic market for the economy of national film industries; (2) to discover how the Swiss market can be considered (a single national market? three distinct markets? or an extension of the German, French and Italian cinema markets?); and (3) to discover if it still makes sense to consider the domestic market as a trade area limited by national borders or whether is it more realistic to think of it in terms of local and/or transnational cultural regions.