12/09/2025 - The first article of this monthly series profiles the organisation’s efforts to serve as a space where competitors can unite around shared challenges and the goal of professional development

With this article, Cineuropa launches its brand-new European Networks series, a monthly initiative devoted to profiling the continent’s most influential organisations protecting and promoting European cinema. Each instalment will shed light on a key player, its mission and its role within the industry.

Founded in 2011 during the Berlinale, Europa International was conceived as a common platform to allow European sales agents to pool and share information, and raise awareness of their pivotal role within the film ecosystem. “Everyone knew what producers and distributors do, but there was little understanding of the sales agents’ profession,” recalls managing director Alice Ormières. From the outset, the idea was to build a space where competitors on the market could nevertheless unite around shared challenges, the goal of professional development and the objective of enhancing the visibility of their work.

The organisation has grown steadily ever since. Today, Europa International counts 58 members across 12 countries, ranging from large groups, such as Pathé, Gaumont, TF1, RAI and SND, to medium-sized players like Playtime, Filmax and TrustNordisk, as well as smaller independent outfits. Each, Ormières stresses, comes with its own specific needs: “My role is to listen and to ensure that the association responds to all members in their full diversity, while serving the interest of the profession as whole.”

Membership is open to European-based companies with significant film sales activity. Applications go directly through Ormières, who presents the association’s conditions and yearly fee structure.

Governance is ensured by a board of seven sales executives, currently presided over by Valeska Neu, of Films Boutique, having been elected in Cannes this year. The Europa International board meets monthly, while the entire membership gathers three times annually: in Berlin and Cannes, ahead of their respective markets, and for an “Annual Reunion” that rotates between host cities. Recent editions took place in Brussels and San Sebastián, in partnership with the respective festivals. In addition to these assemblies, members benefit from regular online exchanges and information sessions on market and festival regulations.

Partnerships with festivals and industry events are another cornerstone of Europa International’s activities. These include invitations and discounts for Cartoon Movie, MIFA in Annecy, MIA, Udine Focus Asia, Sundance and the Luxembourg Film Festival, where a special focus is placed on junior festival managers working in sales firms. Other collaborations involve initiatives such as Locarno’s Industry Academy and StepIn, Cinando, and the Zurich Film Festival Summit Climber. “We try to create partnerships that are truly useful, rather than just symbolic,” Ormières notes. She adds that through its partnerships with events such as MIFA in Annecy and Cartoon Movie, the association aims to invite foreign, non-French members interested in animation, recognising that French sales have a particularly strong presence in the sector compared to other countries.

The association also engages in lobbying and institutional dialogue. Ormières maintains close relations with the European Commission, the Creative Europe – MEDIA programme, Eurimages, and market heads such as the Marché du Film’s Guillaume Esmiol and the EFM’s Tanja Meissner and Peter Domsch. In Brussels, Europa International regularly teams up with Europa Distribution and producers’, exhibitors’ or directors’ associations to address policy issues ranging from the AVMS Directive to the new Multiannual Financial Framework and the challenges posed by AI. “We are a smaller association compared to producers’ or distributors’ ones, and we believe it’s crucial to join forces and speak with one voice to safeguard the uniqueness and strength of the European film industry,” she says.

Project funding has also diversified. While previously funded by MEDIA for various projects, the association secured Erasmus+ funding for an initiative on greening strategies in partnership with Climate Alliance and, most recently, for a new project exploring the ethical use of AI in sales. This latter effort is being developed with Poland’s Kozminski University and The Film Agency, in Spain, and will involve not only marketing, but also legal and business teams within member companies.

For Ormières, who took over as managing director a year ago, the mission of Europa International has evolved since its creation, and today’s focus lies on adapting to new realities: the rise of platforms, concentration of the market on fewer titles, post-COVID audience shifts, consolidation, the implications of AI, and a greater emphasis on sustainability and wellbeing at work. “Ten years ago, the industry was very different,” she reflects. “Now, the new generation of sales agents is rethinking how they work and collaborate together and with the other sectors of the value chain, how they build their business model, how they travel and so on. The challenge for us is to support them in navigating this evolving landscape together.”