Missions & Objectives
Promote the European film industry
is the Council of Europe fund for the co-production, distribution and exhibition of European cinematographic works. Set up in 1988 as a Partial Agreement it currently has 33 Member States.
Eurimages aims to promote the European film industry by encouraging the production and distribution of films and fostering co-operation between professionals.
Three programmes to fulfil two objectives
Eurimages’ first objective is cultural, in that it endeavours to support works which reflect the multiple facets of a European society whose common roots are evidence of a single culture.
The second one is economic, in that the Fund invests in an industry which, while concerned with commercial success, is interested in demonstrating that cinema is one of the arts and should be treated as such.
Bearing this in mind, Eurimages has developed four funding programmes:
- Assistance for co-production;
- Assistance for distribution;
- Assistance to cinemas;
- Assistance to digitisation for Eurimages funded projects;
The majority (almost 90%) of the Fund’s resources – which originate from member States’ contributions – goes to supporting co-production. Since it was set up in 1989, Eurimages has supported the co-production of more than 1100 full-length feature films and documentaries. A number of these have received prestigious awards (Oscars, Palme d’Or, Golden Lion…). The rules and conditions under which assistance is awarded were changed in January 2000 to reflect developments in film-making in the member States and to respond better to the needs of those working in the industry.
The sum committed to assistance for distribution amounts to more then 760,000€ a year.
Finally, Eurimages, in partnership with Europa Cinemas, supports 40 cinemas in five different countries. An amount of about 616,000 € is awarded each year for assistance to cinemas.
This site provides comprehensive information on the three programmes, together with their funding history (co-production, distribution, exhibitions) and the application procedures (coproduction, distribution, exhibitions and digitisation) to be followed.
