A delegation of European filmmakers, composed of Lucas Belvaux, Costa Gavras, Daniele Luchetti, Dariusz Jablonski, Radu Mihaileanu, Cristian Mungiu met with Barroso yesterday 11 June in Strasbourg to present a petition signed by over 7,000 cultural professionals supporting the Cultural Exception saying if support for culture bargained away in the trade talks it will greatly jeopardizes the future of cultural policies in Europe (press release from CINEASTES EUROPENS).

Across Europe AV professionals have rallied to support the Cultural Exception. In Prague where filmmakers are still waiting for the implementation of support from the Czech government for the new Czech Film Fund professionals spoke to FNE about the importance of the Cultural Exception.

Ivana Dragounova of the Czech Film Commission agreed. “It’s very important. We have a rich tradition of filmmaking,” she told FNE.

Pavel Strnad who heads up leading Czech production company Negativ told FNE, “I think it’s quite important for the Czechs as well as the Europeans as a whole. That’s quite obvious. The whole industry relies on it, unfortunately.   We have been quite busy with the Czech film fund. That’s one of the reasons (the Cultural Exception issue) isn’t getting more attention.”

Michal Bregant, director of the Czech National Film Archive said, “The Cultural Exception is very important for the future for our presence on the cultural market.”