The programme is aimed at strengthening the competitiveness of the European audiovisual industry with a series support measures both before and after production.
EU fund supporting co-production and distribution of European films, featuring schemes for films with real circulation potential, as well as for films reflecting the cultural diversity of European cinema.
Programme supporting the initiatives regarding the repertoire and promotion of European cinema, developing network of cinemas on European level, and developing the cooperation between cinema owners, distributors and European organisations supporting cinema.
MEDIA PLUS
The Media Plus programme is aimed at strengthening the competitiveness of the European audiovisual industry with a series support measures both before and after production.
Media Plus is based on the following lines of action:
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MEDIA TRAINING
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The MEDIA Training Programme aims at encouraging the setting up of European training initiatives allowing professionals of the audio-visual industry to increase their competence and their competitiveness on the international market.
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MEDIA DEVELOPMENT
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The MEDIA PLUS Programme provides European
independent production companies with financial support (up to 50% of development budget) for the development of new production projects in the following genres: fiction, documentaries, animation, and multimedia.
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MEDIA DISTRIBUTION
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MEDIA Programme supports
independent companies in the distribution and broadcasting of audiovisual works (fiction, documentary, animation, interactive programmes) and of European films in movie theatres, on video, on digital disc and on television. It also provides support to networks of cinemas presenting a common strategy for the promotion and marketing of European films.
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MEDIA PROMOTION
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The aim of the financial support is to encourage all kind of promotional activities designed to facilitate European producers and distributors' access and participation to major European and international events. The actions focus on improving the conditions governing access by professionals to trade shows and professional audiovisual markets within and outside Europe and via specific technical and financial support schemes, encouraging the creation of a database and/or a network of databases on catalogues of European programmes, intended for professionals and, whenever possible, encouraging support to promote cinematographic works, as from the production phase of the work in question.
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SUPPORT FOR FESTIVALS
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Since 1992, the European Commission has published an annual call for proposals for the support of film festivals and events, organized in partnership within the audiovisual sector, in order to promote European cinematographic works and to encourage their distribution throughout the 15 member states.
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ACTION i2i av
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Action intended to help film and audiovisual production companies to have access to external funding from banks and other financial institutions, by funding some of the costs of guarantees and/or part of the cost of a loan - Discount Contract Loan - for financing the production of their works (margin applied for "cinematographic and audiovisual risk").
The objectives of Action i2i are the following:
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Enhancing the competitiveness of the European film and audiovisual industry,
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Promoting the creation of European cinematographic, television and educational works,
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Helping to obtain support from the financial and banking sector for schemes undertaken by European audiovisual companies,
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Assisting the European audiovisual industry to adapt to new technologies and the digitalisation of production, distribution and archives.
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In particular, in the context of acting as a catalyst for support for the film and audiovisual industry, the EIB Group makes credit lines (Global Loan and Risk Sharing Global Loan) available to the specialised banking sector for the funding of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in audiovisual creation, audiovisual technology or the performance of subcontracting in this sector.
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PILOT PROJECTS
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A special line of pilot projects constitute the way in which it is ensured that the MEDIA Plus programme takes account of rapid technological change (esp. digital technologies). It is expected that in the next few years the use of digital technologies will make European audiovisual works more easily accessible, because of new ways of transporting audiovisual content and as a result more widely available outside their country of origin. Competitiveness of the audiovisual content industry will depend largely on the use of new technologies in the development, production and distribution stages.
Areas in the MEDIA Plus programme in which technology is expected to play a key role are, inter alia:
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cinematographic heritage,
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European audiovisual programme archives,
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catalogues of European audiovisual works and the digital dissemination of European content through for instance advance distribution services.
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opportunities for distance learning and pedagogic innovation offered by the development of distance learning systems using on-line technologies.
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The duration of pilot projects is 12, 24 or 36 months (projects lasting more than a year undergo a yearly selection process).
EURIMAGES
Eurimages provides financial support for the European audiovisual industry.
The programme's first objective is cultural, in that it endeavours to support works, which reflect the multiple facets of a European society. The second objective is economic, in that the Fund invests in an industry, which, while concerned with commercial success, is interested in demonstrating that cinema is one of the arts and should be treated as such.
Eurimages supports full-length feature films and animation and documentaries of a minimum length of 70 minutes.
All projects submitted must have at least two co-producers from different member States of the Fund. The participation of the majority co-producer must not exceed 80% of the total co-production budget, and the participation of the minority co-producer must not be lower than 10% for multilateral co-productions and 20% for bilateral co-productions. However bilateral co-productions with budgets exceeding 5.4 million euro, applying for the first scheme are allowed to present a majority/minority co-production proportion of 90/10%. The assistance for co-production takes the form of an advance on receipts and it is paid in two or three instalments.
Starting from 2000, the Fund decided to set up two schemes:
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scheme for all films with real circulation potential,
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scheme for all films reflecting the cultural diversity of European cinema.
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EUROPA CINEMAS
Europa Cinemas programme aims at supporting cinemas in Europe. The programme currently supports 37 cinemas in nine different countries.
The programme's main objectives are as follows:
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Supporting the initiatives regarding the repertoire and promotion of European films,
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Developing network of cinemas on European level,
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Developing the cooperation between cinema owners, distributors and European organisations supporting cinema.
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The eligible target group consist of all cinemas meeting the following selection criteria:
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Location in capitals, university centres or cities playing key role in distributing of cinematographic works,
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Business run for at least 6 months before submitting an application, with ticket sales and registered income,
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Minimum number of shows per week: 10
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Minimum number of seats: 50,
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The beneficiaries of the programme make the following commitments:
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The European films will constitute at least 33% of premieres and 50% of repertoire and will be shown regularly throughout the year on various occasions (in some cases the Eurimages Committee may allow for a progressive calculation of above shares),
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Every six months each beneficiary will submit a breakdown of repertoire of the cinema to Europa Cinemas. The list should include all films shown during the preceding six months, the number of shows for each of them as well as the number of spectators and ticket sales revenue.
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The beneficiaries will support and promote European cinema,
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The beneficiaries will be obliged to place "Eurimages" logo next to the cinema's name as well as put a notice in their promotional materials saying "supported by Eurimages by the Council of Europe and Europa Cinemas"
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CO-FINANCING RULES
The parties sign an agreement for a period of one year, which can be prolonged afterwards. The amount of the subsidy is specified by the Fund's Committee and does not exceed 21000 euro in the first and 19000 euro in each of the following years. Yearly subsidies will be paid in two instalments upon receiving and verifying of the repertoire details for the preceding six months (1st January/ 30th June and 1st July and 31st December).
