Further supporting its ongoing campaign to promote European films,
Europa Cinemas will return once again to this year's Berlin Film
Festival, awarding its Label to the best European film in the Panorama
section (February 5 to 15).



This marks the fifth year that the Europa Cinemas Label will be
awarded at Berlin, and complements the Labels awarded at the Quinzaine
des Réalisateurs in Cannes, the Giornate degli Autori section in
Venice, and Karlovy Vary.



The success of recent winning films are eloquent testament to the
impact that the Label has on a film's profile and its circulation
around Europe. Last year's Berlin winner, Götz Spielmann's Academy
Award nominated REVANCHE has had successful releases in ten
territories. The Cannes winner from 2008, Bouli Lanners' ELDORADO
enjoyed great success in Belgium, France and Italy with Germany and
the Netherlands to follow this year. Venice 2008 winner Uberto
Pasolini's MACHAN had a solid opening in Italy, with releases set for
France, Switzerland, Austria and Germany. Looking further back, Anton
Corbijn's CONTROL, the Cannes winner from 2007, has been released in
20 countries around Europe, and Andrzej Jakimowski's TRICKS (Venice
2007) has won prizes at 6 international Festivals and has been sold in
more than 20 countries.



Founded in 1992, the Europa Cinemas network now consists of a
remarkable 1945 screens in 758 cinemas in 439 cities in 43 countries.
Europa Cinemas' aim is to support the programming and visibility of
European films outside their country of origin, and to foster
initiatives aimed at encouraging younger audiences to develop their
interest in European films and cultural diversity. Since 2004, Europa
Cinemas has been extending its film theatre network outside Europe,
particularly in Asia, South America and around the Mediterranean.



The Europa Cinemas jury for this year's Berlinale will consist of:
Christin Berg : Exhibitor/Oslo Kino (Norway); Krisztina Paldy :
Distributor/Budapest Film (Hungary); Robert Rider: Exhibitor/Barbican
Centre (UK); Dagmar Wagenknecht : Exhibitor/Kinoklub am
Hirschlachufer/Erfurt (Germany)





Previous winners of the Europa Cinemas Label are:



Cannes/Directors' Fortnight

2003: The Mother (Roger Michell, UK)

Kitchen Stories (Bent Hamer, Norway/Sweden)

2004: In the Battlefields / Dans les champs de bataille
(Danielle Arbid, France / Belgium / Lebanon)

2005: La Moustache (Emmanuel Carrère, France)

2006: 12:08 East of Bucharest/A Fost sau n-a fost ?
(Corneliu Porumboiu, Romania)

2007: Control (Anton Corbijn, UK)

2008: Eldorado (Bouli Lanners, Belgium)







Berlin/Panorama

2005: Live and Become / Radu Mihaileanu, France/Belgium/Israel)

Cockles and Muscles / Crustacés et Coquillages

(Olivier Ducastel, Jacques Martineau, France)

2006: Tough Enough / Knallhart (Detlev Buck, Germany)

2007: El Camino de los Ingleses / Summer Rain (Antonio
Banderas, Spain)

2008: Revanche (Götz Spielmann, Austria)



Venice/Venice Days

2004: Darwin's Nightmare / Le Cauchemar de Darwin
(Hubert Sauper, Austria/France/Belgium)

2005: Le Petit Lieutenant (Xavier Beauvois, France)

2006: Dark Blue Almost Black / Azul Oscuro Casi Negro
(Daniel Sánchez Arévalo, Spain)

2007: Tricks / Sztuczki (Andrzej Jakimowski, Poland)

2008: Machan / Uberto Pasolini, UK/Germany)



Karlovy Vary (Main Competition and East of the West section)

2006: Frozen City / Valkoinen kaupunki (Aku Louhimies, Finland)

2007: The Class / Klass (Ilmar Raag, Estonia)

2008: Bahrtalo! Good Luck! (Róbert Lakatos, Hungary)











Europa Cinemas is supported by the MEDIA, Euromed Audiovisual II,
programmes of the European Commission (Brussels), CNC (France), FFA
(Berlin), Eurimages (Council of Europe, Strasbourg), French Ministry
for Foreign and European Affairs (Paris).



Further Information: Charles McDonald

This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

+44 207 736 3445



www.europa-cinemas.org











Europa Cinemas

Fatima Djoumer, Head of International Relations, This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

Label: Stéphanie Dufour, This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

Info: Jean-Baptiste Selliez, This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

+ 33 (0)1 42 71 53 70 www.europa-cinemas.org