Seventy distributors were present at the sixth annual conference of Europa Distribution (www.europa-distribution.org) held in Lyon from 18-20 October 2012 where the most hotly debated topic was Creative Europe. Distributors from Central and Eastern Europe make up about 20% of ED membership and their voices are becoming increasingly influential in pan-European bodies of the audio-visual industry.
The distributors of Europa Distribution welcomed proposals of the European Commission for the MEDIA strand of Creative Europe which were presented during the conference.
Under the proposals for Creative Europe support for distribution will continue as part of the proposed 900m EUR, which would be allocated to the audiovisual sector between 2014-2020 from the 1.8bln EUR total budget of Creative Europe.
Attending the event was John Dick, Head of sector Distribution by EACEA (www.eacea.ec.europa.eu), as well as audiovisual policy consultant Ignasi Guardans, chairman of Cumediae, a Brussels-based cultural funding consultancy.
Europa Distribution working groups of European distributors also prepared a number of recommendations on Creative Europe and distribution that will be delivered to the Commission expressing the views of the industry on specific policies.
Among the policies that Europa Distribution endorsed was the new 210m EUR financial guarantee facility and funding for innovative new approaches to building cinema audiences which a number of European distributors said would be “very useful.”
Europa Distribution General Director, Adeline Monzier,told FNE that this year’s conference was taking place at a critical time for the distribution industry as Creative Europe and the future of the MEDIA programme were being discussed at the same time discussed in the EU parliament.
“We do not know yet what the exact budget of MEDIA or Creative Europe will be or exactly how it will work so the recommendations prepared by our working groups and presented to the parliament are very important. The most important thing is that support for theatrical distribution should stay at the heart of MEDIA,” Monzier said.
Polish Jakub Duszynski from Gutek Film (www.gutekfilm.pl) is Europa Distribution’s co-president together with Belgian Annemie Degryse from Lumière (www.lumiere.be/nl/portal).
