22/09/2005

Claude-Eric Poiroux and Claude Miller will today receive the European Personality Prize of the Year awarded by the Donostia-San Sebastián festival. The French duo has been rewarded for their work at the head of the Europa Cinemas network, succeeding European Commissionaire Viviane Reding who won the inaugural prize last year. Founded in 1992, Europa Cinemas created the first international cinema theatre network, showing mainly European programming, presenting productions from the Old Continent within the EU and also in Latin America and North Africa. With 600 theatres (1420 screens in 322 towns), the network is pursuing its development, notably within the framework of Media Programme of the European Union and with the aid of the National Film Centre (CNC).

Presided over by the famous filmmaker Claude Miller, who is currently preparing his next feature ( Un secret [+see also:
trailer
film profile]), Europa Cinemas’ director general is Claude-Eric Poiroux who is also artistic director and founder of the Premiers Plans festival at Angers, dedicated to young European cinema. Note, too, that inscriptions for shorts and features for the 18th edition of this event (20-29 January 2006) end on the 14th October.

(Translated from French)