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Creative Europe MEDIA celebrates its 30th anniversary in 2021!

The European Commission launches a communication campaign to celebrate 30 years of support to the audiovisual sector. It will also announce the new Creative Europe MEDIA programme running from 2021 to 2027.

logo of the Creative Europe Media

European Commission

For the last 30 years, the Creative Europe MEDIA programme has supported the European film and audiovisual industries, helping the professionals to make their stories come to live and be widely shared in Europe and beyond. Proud of the collective efforts and outstanding achievements reached by the European audiovisual community over these years, MEDIA produced this video to celebrate its anniversary with the industry.

Targeting the general audience, this second clip shows why the MEDIA programme has been supporting the audiovisual industry for 30 years. Despite the invaluable European talent, many productions have difficulties to reach their audiences. MEDIA helps stories to get to people, because ‘Stories are meant to be shared.’

On social media, the campaign focuses on explaining the audiovisual industry, specially through thematic  episodes of the new Instagram series ‘Behind the scenes of European content – How EU support turns into stories’. The aim is to help viewers to better understand how the EU supports audiovisual and film projects on the ground.

About MEDIA

The MEDIA sub-programme of Creative Europe supports the European film and audiovisual industries in the development, distribution and promotion of their work. It helps to launch and distribute projects with a European dimension and international potential to travel beyond national and European borders. Its funding actions provide support to audiovisual works including films, TV series, documentaries, video games and immersive content, and to cinemas, festivals and markets. It also contributes to boosting European talents via training programmes, as well as to film education, heritage and audience development.

The impact of MEDIA each year results in…

  • Training more than 2400 professionals
  • Developing more than Films, TV  series and videogames
  • Distributing more than 300 films
  • Reaching 3.5 million people in festivals
  • Supporting more than 1100 cinemas in 34 countries
  • Touching 65 million people across borders

The new Creative Europe MEDIA 2021-2027

MEDIA has been strengthened in particular by a focus on increasing cooperation at EU level, through support to co-productions, structured networks and partnerships, in order to scale up audiovisual enterprises and to enhance the competitiveness of European audiovisual production at European and global levels. MEDIA support will take new trends into account, for example by accompanying the growth in cross-border audiences for high quality TV series and the increasing opportunities for virtual reality experiences.

In addition, the new programme will introduce some novelties taking into account the current context and challenges of the sector:

  • Covid 19: supporting the short term recovery and transformation of the audiovisual industry via the Media and Audiovisual Action Plan.
  • Cross-cutting issues such as greening (taking encouraging steps to contribute to a climate-neutral audiovisual sector) and diversity and inclusiveness at all stages of the value chain.

A new structure for a new programme

To ensure more flexibility in the actions supported and to encourage cooperation among the different parts of the audiovisual value-chain, the priorities of the new programme are structured around four clusters which are defined around the ultimate goal they intend to pursue, namely:

  • Content: Encouraging collaboration and innovation in the creation and production of high quality European audiovisual works, reinforcing the capacity of independent producers to retain rights and exploit them globally, thus reinforcing EU media brands.

    Business: Promoting business innovation, competitiveness, scalability, and talents in the European audiovisual sector in order to strengthen its position vis-à-vis its global competitors.

  • Audience: Strengthen the accessibility and visibility of works for their potential audiences through distribution channels and platforms.

  • Policy: Support through policy discussion/exchange fora, studies, and reports. Promote outreach activities and horizontal issues such as greening, diversity, gender, inclusion, innovation.

Further information