500 million people, 24 official languages, 27 member states and a dozen non-EU countries all participate in Creative Europe in various ways: gazes and stories describe intertwined destinies; physical and cultural borders dissolve and become superfluous; transnational collaborations speak of successful creative projects, of friendships, and of relationships born and strengthened; and festivals become melting pots of languages, visions and experiences that build bridges among creators and professionals.

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Cinematic languages mirror one another other and merge, and there’s a sense of belonging that’s reinforced through experiencing the same emotions in a theatre, whether it be in Vilnius or in Palermo. These are ties that bind Europe together.

This is why more than 4,500 directors, authors, screenwriters, producers and professionals representing the entire ecosystem of the European film world have signed a heartfelt, poetic and political open letter in defence of Creative Europe – MEDIA. From Poland to Greece, and from Portugal to the Czech Republic, leading figures in the cinema and audiovisual domain, as well as prominent directors, are making a clear statement: cinema needs Europe, and Europe needs cinema.

The idea is further developed in the open letter: “Europe itself, as a collective endeavour, was imagined in stories before it was built; it is Stefan Zweig's continent of ideas, not armies. […] Filmmaking is a collaborative art. It becomes an industry through job creation and technological innovation. Yet every film remains a prototype, impossible to mass-produce on an assembly line. There are no economies of scale in storytelling. This dual nature calls for deliberate political choices engaging public and private operators. […] In Europe, the political choice for cinema, be it Czech, Italian, Swedish, Slovenian, Portuguese or Belgian, is the MEDIA programme. Just as the idea of Europe itself is a unique project, the idea of the MEDIA programme is to sustain diverse European voices in a common house.”

The signatories of the letter are fully aware of how small the MEDIA budget is compared to other EU policies. And yet, without this drop in the ocean, without MEDIA, we would all be a little less European.

Following the letter signed a few weeks ago by over 17 organisations and associations representing all categories of the film world (see the news), a host of directors (among them Juliette Binoche, Carla Simón, Agnieszka Holland, Rebecca Zlotowski, Joachim Trier, Ruben Östlund and Yorgos Lanthimos), actors and actresses, film professionals and citizens, all cinema lovers, are calling upon the European Commission, the European Parliament and member states to future-proof the success and integrity of the vital and precious MEDIA programme, and to reinforce its resources. “There are no shared values, no democracy and no European soft power without artistic creation,” they assert.

The letter, available here, remains open for signatures, and Cannes will undoubtedly be the next venue for the continuing meetings and discussions in defence of MEDIA and in defence of European cinema as a whole.