EBU partners with the european film academy to launch EUROVISION FILM WEEK, 1-7 dec 2013

Geneva, Switzerland (ots) - The European Broadcasting Union (EBU)
and 26 of its Members, with cooperation from the European Film
Academy (EFA)
(http://www.europeanfilmacademy.org/European-Film-Awards.36.0.html)
have joined forces to launch EUROVISION FILM WEEK - the most
accessible film festival (http://ots.de/DMmQo) anywhere, and the
first ever based exclusively on TV and radio.

Pictures:
http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20131125/654612-a
http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20131125/654612-b

In the week leading up to the European Film Awards (7 December)*,
these public service media will devote their schedules to the rich
cultural phenomenon that is European cinema.

As well as airing top quality European films, the 26 broadcasters
have scheduled interviews with luminaries of European cinema, debates
and an array of other programmes related to film. Radio stations will
also be a key pillar, airing programmes on film music, interviews and
behind-the-scenes reports.

As Europe's hub for public service media, the EBU has set up a
film exchange platform on its EUROVISION SHOWCASE
(http://eurovisionshowcase.com/) platform, where the EUROVISION FILM
WEEK participants can share rights-free films in broadcast quality.
There are 25 films (http://ots.de/wEBob) in the pool, and any
participating broadcaster is at liberty to show whichever films
appeal. Twenty-two of the participating Members have announced they
will broadcast films from the exchange, while three will show films
from their own archives.

EBU President Jean-Paul Philippot said EUROVISION FILM WEEK would
highlight the strong ties between Europe's film industry and public
service media.

He said: "Public Service Media (PSM) are key partners of the film
industry, in terms of financing, promotion and broadcasting of films,
but also often as the commissioning parties. We want to celebrate
this contribution and highlight European cinema's close ties to
public service media. This partnership gives rise to a very rich
cultural offering, both in Europe and beyond. And at a time when
funding of European cinema and public service media is under threat,
we want to find ways to ensure this can continue."

German film director and Deputy Chairman of the European Film
Academy Board, Volker Schlöndorff, who is acting as a EUROVISION FILM
WEEK ambassador said: "The big problem for European cinema is that
the films are not exchanged between one country and another. Nowadays
we observe that the cultural borders have been closed. Everything is
nicely separated into compartments and everyone has their own
national drawer. And that is a task for European films to tackle."

As well as Volker Schlöndorff, EUROVISION FILM WEEK has drawn
strong support from three other prominent European filmmakers, namely
Costa Gavras (France), Agnieszka Holland (Poland) and Jiri Menzel
(Czech Republic).

*France Télévisions has scheduled EUROVISION FILM WEEK during the
last week of November.

Contact:
BEN STEWARD
Communications Officer
T +41 22 717 22 13? steward@ebu.ch