Budget boost for MEDIA as of 2014 || 23/11/2011
On 23 November the European Commission will make a first concrete proposal for the budget and form to be taken by the MEDIA programme, which will then be presented to the Council of Ministers and the European Parliament. There is two years’ time for negotiations until the start of the new programme. The MEDIA budget for 2014-2020 is to be raised by 20% to 900 million euros. It will be subsumed under “Creative Europe”, under which MEDIA Mundus and the cultural programmes also operate.
The total proposed budget, making allowances for exchange-rate fluctuations, currently comes to 1.8 billion euros. Included in that sum are also 180 million euros for a new financing instrument, which is to be administered by the European Investment Bank.
At the beginning of this year there were still some fears that the European Commission was planning to do away with the MEDIA programme or to continue it in starkly reduced form. At the Cannes Festival in 2011 a petition was submitted to the President of the European Commission, José Manuel Barroso, in which 1,800 prominent film-industry figures demanded the continuation of the programme.
When announcing the news of the budget increase, the responsible cabinet head, Philippe Brunet, commented that the boost could be attributed to the fact that not only the cultural achievements, but also the economic benefits of the programme had become evident.
Source: Media Desk
Norway: Film budget boost – short films also benefit || 23/11/2011
The Norwegian government decided in October to increase its budget for film promotion by 47 million NOK (ca. €6 million) to 706 million NOK (ca. €90 million) in 2012. Short films, documentaries and films by new talents, as well as children’s and youth film initiatives will all benefit from the new infusion of funds. A total of 51.7 million NOK (ca. €6.6 million) is earmarked for this film sector – three times the level set aside in the last increase in 2005.
Extra funds are also to be devoted to the areas of computer games, TV drama and support for regional film centres.
Source: http://www.nordiskfilmogtvfond.com/
Professional association founded for the German animated film industry || 23/11/2011
- Inaugural meeting © DOK Leipzig
On 21 October, during the DOK Leipzig festival, a consortium for animated film (Arbeitsgemeinschaft Animationsfilm) was founded. The consortium is to function as a nationwide interest group for the entire animated film industry. Among the 26 founding members are some of the leading producers and makers of animated films in Germany.
The press release notes: “With the founding of the AG Animationsfilm, the industry is reacting to increasingly difficult production conditions for animated films. Although German film schools produce excellent animated film professionals, and first-class films are made here year after year, these frequently award-winning works seldom find their way onto television or cinema screens. German television stations have largely withdrawn from financing and co-producing this popular genre and instead purchase foreign-made series.”
The new AG Animationsfilm will work closely with existing professional organizations such as the Produzentenallianz, the AG Dokumentarfilm (AG DOK) and the AG Kurzfilm.
Organizers cancel Jordan Film Festival out of protest || 23/11/2011
The Jordan Short Film Festival will not take place in 2011. The organizers have cancelled the festival as a protest against the murder of two regime critics by government agents. They point out that not one film about the Arab Spring has been produced in Jordan since that incident. Jordanian filmmakers are evidently too afraid to touch the subject.
The organizers say they would deem it “intellectually dishonest” to hold the festival “in a cinema environment where stories about people and events that shape the future of our country cannot be told”. Nor does the Amman Filmmakers Cooperative, coordinator of the festival, wish to take part in a cinema event that would give the false impression of “business as usual”. The decision will be reviewed next year.
Source: http://ammanfilmmakers.alif.com/
Sweden: Filmform puts together educational package on video art || 23/11/2011
- „En dag i staden“ © Pontus Hultén & Hans Nordenström / Stiftelse Filmform
The Filmform Foundation (Stockholm) in cooperation with the Swedish Film Institute has put together four educational packages as inspirational material on the theme of video art and experimental film for teachers and pupils. The material is provided on DVDs and in text form under the title “Video art – what’s that?”. Included are film examples, tips on their deployment in the classroom, discussion material and exercises.
Three packages have been compiled according to themes (“Identity”, “Stories and Time”, “Sound and Image”) and the other one is devoted to the works of video artist Catti Brandelius. The series is designed for pupils aged 15 and over and can be borrowed from Filmform.
Filmform is a foundation dedicated to the promotion, distribution and preservation of Swedish art film and experimental video. It is the oldest organization in Sweden dedicated to experimental film and video art.
Info: http://www.filmform.com/projects.html
(see also our article from 2003 <http://www.filmform.com/essays_ff.html>
Danish online portal offers 20 new short films for schools || 23/11/2011
- Filmstriben © Screenshot
The publicly accessible school-film portal “Filmstriben” has added 20 new Danish short films to its programme. These are fiction films produced by the Filmværkstedet (Copenhagen) in the years 2002 to 2009 that had not yet been available for use in the classroom.
The films are geared toward children and young people and are also suitable for film analysis by those learning Danish. All films are shorter than 30 minutes. The package includes works by the most interesting young Danish directors. Among them are “Ynglinge” by Mikkel Munch-Fals, “Sprækker” by Aage Rais and “Catherine” by Mads Matthiesen.
The repertoire of “Filmstriben” can be borrowed by schools in digital form or viewed by pupils online or at public libraries. For copyright reasons, registration is required for non-commercial use, and access is limited to Denmark, Greenland and the Faroe Islands.
URL: http://www.filmstriben.dk/