Next year's Cannes festival will be host to a conference on anti-piracy issues it was announced after a meeting between MPA chief Jack Valenti and France's minister of culture Jean-Jacques Aillagon.

'We urge the creative community and cinema professionals of France, the US and all countries to join together in a common cause, indispensable to the future of every national cinema industry,' they said in a join statement.

They continued: 'This problem demands a political will by governments to facilitate the tracking, prosecution and punishment of digital thievery, a firm resolve to pursue technological innovation so that we have the technical tools to challenge pirates, and to implement by parliamentary approval, where necessary, those legal protections and technologies which are considered to be the best way to protect creative works.'