Ministers meet at Europe Day
The spotlight was on European cinema today with the fifth edition of Europe Day, held as part of the Cannes Film Festival.
Attended by Ministers of Culture from Austria, Belgium, Portugal, Estonia, Lithuania, Latvia and France (the newly-appointed Christine Albanel), as well as the European Commissioner for Information, Society and Media Viviane Reding, the day began with a symposium on the theme "Creative Filmmaking in Europe: The New Rules of the Game.", devoted in particular to new film distribution technologies. The symposium was presided over by Brazilian director Walter Salles and attended by Nicolas Seydoux (Gaumont) and Marie Masmonteil (Elzevir Films).
After presenting Lithuanian scriptwriter-director Saulius Drunga with the 2007 European Union New Talent Award at a gala dinner yesterday evening, Commissioner Reding highlighted at a press conference this afternoon her satisfaction after EU ministers voted unanimously in favour of the new Televisions Without Borders directive.
The European Commissioner also stated that 11 films supported by the MEDIA Programme were in official selection this year at Cannes and the market share for European films in Europe had increased from 25% in 2005 to 28% in 2006.
These positive results now have to be transferred to the area of new technologies, for which Commissioner Reding called for "an open dialogue in order for films to have a real chance of distribution and increase audiences.
(Translated from French)
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