The European Union supports and pushes its cinema at the Cannes Festival for another year

By financing numerous European co-productions and accompanying films to the biggest festivals in the world, Europe responds to an extremely competitive and constantly evolving market.

Europe is present, every year, at the Cannes film festival. And in 2023 he has been the European Commissioner for the Internal Market, Thierry Bretonin charge of going to the Palais des Festivals, to present the results of the Commission’s work and reveal its intentions for the coming years.

“I have presented the ‘Media Outlook’, which is in fact a very in-depth study carried out by our services, to see the big trends that we are aware of and draw conclusions”, explains Breton. “It’s obviously about the appearance of platforms and how we position ourselves in relation to them, it is about the protection of intellectual property rights, which is so important to us in Europe – and believe me, we are looking out for this in Europe. It’s about funding, how to further increase funding, and obviously we intend to continue.”

14 films supported by the program are present at Cannes, and four are competing for the Palme d’Or. Among them, ‘Rapito’, by the Italian maestro Mark Bellocchiothe true story of a Jewish boy forcibly baptized by the Pope in the 19th century.

“We are a State of Law,” recalls Breton. “We have values, we share them, it is our common good in Europe and it is true in this context that the audiovisual industries, in the broadest sense of the word, play an essential role in Europe. We are reminded of this every day, the essential role which is to protect our heritage, even at a time when war hits our continent in Ukraine”.

The other three films in the competition are directed by women: ‘Olfa’s daughters’, by Kaouther Ben Hania‘Club Zero’, by Jessica Hausner and ‘The Chimera’, by Alice Rohrwacher.

The European Commission takes into account that cinema is an art and an industry. By funding numerous European co-productions and accompanying films to the world’s biggest festivals, Europe is responding to an extremely competitive and constantly evolving marketwhile affirming their cultural and artistic values, as well as their industrial and technological knowledge.

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