02/09/2025 - VENICE 2025: At the heart of the debate are issues of freedom of expression and cultural sovereignty threatened by US political and commercial attacks

Gathered in Venice for the third consecutive year, at the Gionate degli Autori, European filmmakers and screenwriters – Italy’s ANAC, 100autori, ACMF and WGI, France’s l’ARP and SRF, Europe’s FERA - took the opportunity to publish an open letter on the international situation, which is causing them concern.

"We, authors and filmmakers, celebrate European cultural diversity which is under attack in the economic and cultural war currently underway.

We call on European institutions to redouble their efforts in defending the production and circulation of diverse works by supporting the independent sector, a pillar of our virtuous system. The European Commission's presentation in July of the new Agora EU program concerns us: it mixes cinema with the press and video games, and risks separating audiovisual creation from its independent local cultural dimension.

We demand the reinforcing of specific funding support for the independent cinema and audiovisual sector, which has enabled the emergence of European creative talent in recent years, and continues to be an essential safeguard to ensure fair competition and cultural diversity in our sector.

Culture is not a commodity like any other. Its purpose is to bring nations together, not to set them against each other. European institutions must be the guarantors of this freedom of expression and creation. The plurality of perspectives, which only a rich and diverse independent creation can ensure, is also the safeguard of democratic life and of everyone’s access to emancipation through culture."