Press Release: Europe’s cinema goes global: 40 international film cooperation projects benefit from EU support of €5 million

On 18 September 2009 the European Commission announced €5 million of funding for 2009 to strengthen cultural and commercial relations between Europe's film industry and film-makers of third countries. The EU funding will enable European film makers, animators and other audiovisual professionals to learn new skills, and promote the industry, by cooperating with professionals outside Europe, and vice-versa. 40 projects will benefit from EU funding. They include joint training, reciprocal promotion, distribution and film screenings and other actions to encourage audiences in Europe and abroad to discover foreign films. The funding takes place under MEDIA International, an initiative for EU funding of international film cooperation started in 2008. Compared to 2008, this year's funding and number of selected projects more than doubled (last year, 18 projects were funded by the EU with €2 million). This was made possible thanks to last December's vote by the European Parliament to increase the budget for international cooperation in the film sector.