The MEDIA programme (abbreviation from French: Mesures pour Encourager le Développement de L’Industrie Audiovisuelle) was launched in 1991. Today it is part of the EU’s Creative Europe programme.
Each year it supports around 2,000 European films, television series and other projects which are distributed digitally in cinemas, on television and through video-on-demand services. MEDIA has helped train more than 20,000 producers, directors and screenwriters, and enabled them to adapt to new technologies.
MEDIA provides support at the early stages of a film’s lifecycle: investment in development and pre-production (e.g. scriptwriting, financing research, business events) provides a spring board for European filmmakers, actors and technicians. MEDIA also invests in film distribution (theatrical distribution and video on demand) across borders and therefore supports European cultural diversity. MEDIA supports subtitling, dubbing, advertising and co-finances networks of cinemas screening European content.
MEDIA has helped the audiences for European cinema to grow. In 2014, 33.2% of all cinema admissions in Europe were for European films, up from 25.4% in 2010. Emerging film industries and markets in Northern, Central and Eastern Europe have also grown, thanks to the success of their works abroad.
To celebrate the 25th anniversary of MEDIA, a series of videos will pay tribute to European audiovisual works which drive our imagination under the slogan “we all love stories”. Testimonials by filmmakers, producers and actors are also available online.
