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INDUSTRY Spain / Europe

CineEurope drops anchor in Barcelona once again

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- Today marks the start of the 28th edition of this event that brings together film distribution and exhibition professionals hailing from both Europe and the USA; the gathering runs until 20 June

CineEurope drops anchor in Barcelona once again

The official convention of the International Union of Cinemas (UNIC) (which counts almost 40 European territories among its members), CineEurope, organised by the Film Expo Group and unspooling for the eighth time in the Barcelona International Convention Centre (CCIB), kicks off today with the presentation of its annual report. At the event, which is due to wrap up on Thursday 20 June, hundreds of audiovisual industry professionals from Europe and the USA – encompassing exhibitors, licensees and distributors – will come together to be engrossed in “product presentations, the very best in cinematic technologies and innovations, and educational seminars to keep your business on top of industry trends”, as stated on the website.

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According to the aforementioned UNIC report, 1.3 billion admissions were sold last year in its member countries, which represents takings of €8.1 billion. While new box-office records were set in the UK, Turkey and Poland, takings fell slightly in France and Spain. Nonetheless, the five top territories on the box-office podium are: France (201 million tickets sold), Russia (200 million), the UK (177 million), Germany (105 million) and Spain (97.7 million). The report also underlines the growth of the box office in Central and Eastern Europe (except in Slovakia and Bulgaria, which saw a decrease) and the fact that almost 30% of the European market was filled by movies from Europe itself (click here to read the full report).

Standing out on Monday 17 June, among other activities, are a presentation on emerging markets (focusing primarily on South Africa and Serbia), a talk by the European Commission to unveil new film-audience data and growth opportunities, the CineEurope opening ceremony, and the UniFrance and Creative Europe - MEDIA programme conferences.

Aside from the presentations of new Hollywood productions courtesy of their big-league distributors (which will be bringing some of their biggest celebrity stars along to the Catalan capital) and the latest technological advances, the rest of the week will be devoted to the discussion of burning issues, such as new film consumption habits, how the audiovisual industry is rising to the challenge of stopping climate change, and how piracy is developing and what measures need to be taken to halt it, homing in on the role that film professionals can play in championing the fair and legal consumption of audiovisual content.

On the last day of CineEurope, the gathering’s prizes will be handed out: the Award for Distributor of the Year will be bestowed upon Mark Viane, of Paramount Pictures International, and Mary Daily, the company’s joint head of marketing and distribution; the 2019 CineEurope Award for Exhibitor of the Year will go to the Balkan chain Blitz-CineStar; and the UNIC Award, which serves to acknowledge an individual’s exemplary dedication to the European film industry, will be handed to Sweden’s Peter Fornstam, the founder and director of the Svenska Bio cinema chain, and the head of the Swedish Film Exhibitors’ Association.

This time around, the deserving recipients of the CineEurope Gold Awards are: Spaniard Jaime Gerbolés, of Yelmo Cines; Simon Brown, head of the FCPA (Film Content Protection Agency); Marcin Czubak (Helios); Kam Dosanjh, head of operations at Vue International; Rolv Gjestland, of Film & Kino; Valeria Kurohtina, of Cinamon; Duncan Reynolds, of Odeon Cinemas Group; and Carola Schmid, of Cineplexx.

For more detailed information on what’s in store at CineEurope 2019, please click here.

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(Translated from Spanish)

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