23/05/2006

The international distribution of European films – this was the theme of this morning's meeting at Cannes between 16 EU Ministers of Culture as part of the fourth Europe Day (“Journée de l’Europe”).

Invited to the event by Viviane Reding, European Commissioner for the Information Society and Media, and Gilles Jacob, president of the Cannes Film Festival), were several film industry professionals and, as its patrons, Belgian directors Jean-Pierre and Dardenne.

Presented this afternoon to the press, the conclusions of the meeting’s report emphasised the importance of co-productions, including those outside Europe, as well as the need to improve knowledge of international markets, while co-ordinating the actions of international sales agents who handle European films in other countries.

The Commissioner also underlined the importance of helping distributors and exhibitors in these countries, who are committed to promoting European cinema, for instance by giving access to Media Programme training and by creating networks such as Europa Cinémas.

According to the Commissioner, new technologies, in particular the Internet, are an opportunity not to be wasted for improving film distribution. This objective will be formalised this afternoon with the signature of the first European Film Online Charter between the large telecom, Internet and audiovisual companies.

Lastly, Commissioner Reding commented on the good performance of European cinema and the decisive support from the Media programme in the distribution of 9 out of 10 films in Europe. However, the fragmentation of distribution, which is still not international enough, needs to be improved through co-operation from the different national promotion organisations. The Commissioner concluded that admission figure for European films are still strong, the decrease in attendance in 2005 having impacted US blockbusters and not European productions.

(Translated from French)