Bosnia and Herzegovina to become full member of MEDIA in 2012

by Vladan Petkovic

31/01/2012 - Bosnia and Herzegovina, which has taken over the presidency of the European Audiovisual Observatory for 2012, is expected to become a full member of the MEDIA Programme by the end of the year.

The negotiation process is under way, and “timing will depend on the procedures side of things but hopefully we’re talking months”, said MEDIA unit chief Aviva Silver.

“The finalisation of negotiations for Bosnia and Herzegovina’s membership in the MEDIA Programme is a result of long-time efforts of the country’s film-makers and is exceptionally important for the whole film sector,” said Association of Filmmakers of Bosnia and Herzegovina Secretary-General and programmer of the Sarajevo Film Festival Elma Tataragić. “Bosnian producers will finally be able to access funds for development of feature, animated and documentary films, as the means available from Bosnian institutions have so far been very limited and unstable. An important space is also opening for distributors and numerous co-production projects, particularly within the region.”

Bosnia and Herzegovina Eurimages representative Jovan Marjanović explained: “MEDIA membership also means that public funding for film in Bosnia will be covered by the MEDIA banking guarantees,which will significantly accelerate access to money and improve the cash-flow of our producers, and additionally push the banking sector into the film production. Along with the membership in the Eurimages and the European Audiovisual Observatory, with this step the Bosnian audiovisual sector has become fully integrated in the European film support mechanism, which automatically makes it significantly competitive.”

Bosnian projects are already eligible for MEDIA open calls, but submitters will have to wait for the results until the negotiations are completed.