02/03/2012 - When East Meets West debates Eurimages and the MEDIA Programme’s contributions to co-production.

At an event like When East Meets West, whose objective is to facilitate co-production between Western and Eastern Europe, it wouldn’t have done to not have the European Union’s two specialized programmes on board.

The European Commission’s MEDIA Programme and the Council of Europe’s Eurimages starred in a roundtable called “The Art of Coproducing in Europe: Eurimages, Media Programme and What Else?', during which they were represented by Silvia Sandrone (Antenna Media Torino) and Alessia Sonaglioni (Eurimages). Producers Markku Fink (Kinosto, Finlandia), Milena Garfield (West End Productions, Serbia), and Sam Taylor (F&me, Reino Unido) participated. According to their respective nationalities, the latter have access to only one of these two funds (Serbia to Eurimages, the United Kingdom to the MEDIA Programme), or to both (such as Finland).

One of the most common sources of criticism for both funds was a complicated application process, although Taylor said that he thought that it was much more difficult to work with an American co-producer. As for Garfield, he stressed the quality of the Eurimages brand, as well as the creative freedom that it allows, as “it does not impose the use of artists from one territory or the other. This was essential for some of our productions that were very specific and had to include artistic elements impossible to find outside the region”.

Sonaglioni, who briefly presented Eurimages with a few details about the necessary requirements to obtain financing, said that average funding for a film from Eurimages in 2011 was of € 310,000, “much less than national funds, but enough to give the projects a little something extra ”.

(Translated from Spanish)