2016 marks the 25th anniversary of the MEDIA programme supporting European audiovisual creations and their distribution across borders. For this anniversary, the European Union launches in Cannes a dedicated communication campaign gathering data, factsheets country per country, short video based of testimonials of MEDIA beneficiaries, stakeholders, and long term partners.
The press conference announcing this year's activities will take place in the Palais on Monday the 16th of May, 11am. Günther H. Oettinger, Member of the European Commission responsible for digital society and economy and Pierre Lescure, President of the Cannes Film Festival will be taking the stage. They will then give the floor to three of Europe's most talented filmmakers: Paweł Pawlikowski, László Nemes and Céline Sciamma. Paweł Pawlikowski was awarded the Best Foreign Language Film Oscar in 2015 for Ida, and László Nemes scooped the same award in 2016 for Son of Saul. Céline Sciamma's Girlhood opened the Directors' Fortnight in 2014.
On the occasion of the 25 years of MEDIA, material has been created to explain the added value of the MEDIA programme for the European audiovisual industry. The list below presents this content, along with press material:
- Videos: we have given the floor to producers, actors, and distributors which the programme has been supporting for the past years. These testimonials come from all across Europe. In addition, a clip (in seven languages) on the 25 years of the programme has been released to give an insight of the works which have been cofinanced.
- Factsheets: 60 factsheets, in English as well as in national languages, have been made available. They offer a snapshot of the film industry in each country, and mention a few of the MEDIA success stories. Information on MEDIA-supported works awarded main prizes at Cannes Film Festival is also available
- Press material: an infographics, a press release as well as a Q&A have been published and can be accessed.