It's time to celebrate: 25 years of funding European films - Main contents

Today, we will celebrate the 25th anniversary of MEDIA: 25 years of financial support to the Europe's film industry, 25 years of investments in creativity, competitiveness and cultural diversity.

Great movies stand the test of time. Similarly, the MEDIA programme during its 25 years of existence has proven its ability to adapt and respond to a changing audio-visual sector. It has always supported co-operation across borders, which has led to a better circulation of audio-visual works and films. And of course, in the recent past, the programme included the the digital transformation of the industry. We have helped to digitise the Europa Cinemas network, we have trained professionals with over 80 initiatives each year, and we invest more in making content available online e.g. with the online distribution scheme which accounts for over five per cent of the total budget of the 120 million euros available in the MEDIA programme.

But the two-day dedicated event to 25 years MEDIA is more than a day to celebrate: We reflect on the leassons learnt and look at the challenges ahead. Under the so called European Film Forum, a dialogue launched last year between industry professionals and public authorities, we will discuss how we can help the sector adapting to the digital revolution. Various events have helped shaping the debate on topics like talent and skills, the strength of co-productions, and access to finance and new financing models.

These fora have turned out to be very useful to listen to our stakeholders and find out what needs to be done in the future. One regular theme on which consensus has emerged is that there is no one-size-fits-all model: no film is the same - what works for one production might not work for another, and distribution can change from country to country.

Furthermore, investment in people is essential for a successful European audio-visual sector: Europe would not have its rich and diverse film and audio-visual production without the talent of its creators and authors, the skills of highly specialized technicians needed for production and post-production and the ingenuity and know-how of producers, sales agents and distributors who organise, finance and distribute productions.

Another key topic has been the importance of promotion, visibility and prominence of EU content. As consumers become their own gatekeepers, the popularity of content and its branding is increasingly important. There is growing consensus among audio-visual players that promotion is key to a sustainable and competitive European audio-visual industry. Moreover, this is an area which offers huge potential for collaboration across the value chain: common or synchronized strategies for making films available online enable cost savings and reaching out to larger audiences. However, so far public funding support has not directly addressed this important aspect.

As of next year, 10% of the MEDIA budget programme will therefore be available to support the promotion activities of video-on-demand (VOD) platforms which focus essentially on European content. We will also support catalogues of European films or TV series for VOD services and innovative models of distribution like multi-platform releases. All these activities are aimed at increasing the prominence and attractiveness of European productions online.

The dialogue with our stakeholders will continue beyond the 25 years anniversary event and will help shape the future vision and strategic direction of the MEDIA programme beyond 2020.

I am therefore confident that it will continue to boost competitiveness and cultural diversity in the future.

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