17/05/2005

The European Producers’ Club and the European Film Exporters (EFEA) and Distributors’ Associations (FIAD) took advantage of being in Cannes to publish a list of common proposals so as to renegotiate the Media Programme for the 2007-2013 period. Paying a tribute to the European Commission action which increased the Media budget up to 1055 million euros for the 2007-2013 period, the three signatory organizations however underline that this amount tends to be insufficient for a period of seven years and for 25 countries (nearly 27) with the necessity to back up a strong and varied industry and above all to improve circulation of films.

The European Producers’ Club (EFEA) and the FIAD which noticed the drop of non-national European film market share for a third time in a row on the Old Continent and their weak diffusion on television, wish to strengthen existing mechanisms within the actual Media Programme, calling in particular for additional efforts in order to develop Europa Cinemas, national and even European measures to fight against pirating and video on-demand control. Seven technical proposals have therefore been presented concerning screen distribution (i.e. backing up, in a more selective way, films that have been selected in the best festivals), production (implementing an automatic support to producers regarding the circulation of their films outside their country of origin, bringing together Media-Eurimages) and international sales companies support. Moreover, signatories would like an increased intervention of the European Investment Bank and the European Investment Fund for transnational structures and a support for digital screening development.

(Translated from French)