At this week’s Lumière Film Festival in Lyon, Commissioner Gabriel will present the prototype of the Directory of European Films developed by the European Audiovisual Observatory to increase the visibility of European films on the video-on-demand (VOD) market.

As organisations working across the European audiovisual sector, and in the context of the discussions surrounding the next Multi-annual Financial Framework, we would like to reiterate our support for the Creative Europe MEDIA Programme,

Dear President Juncker, We are writing to share our thoughts on the place of culture in the EU budget ahead of the presentation by the European Commission of its draft Regulation for the post-2020 MFF in May 2018.

The wide-reaching copyright package presented today by the European Commission is met with a mixed reaction by SAA. Beyond these first steps to support authors, SAA calls for greater ambition at EU level for screenwriters and directors.

Last week (31st August), the European Commission published a Eurobarometer survey on “Cross-border access to online content”.

The Digital Single Market Strategy adopted by the Commission on 6 May was very much discussed during the first week-end of the Cannes Film Festival, one of the biggest gatherings of cinema professionals in the world.

Bogdan Wenta MEP’s draft report discussed in the European Parliament Culture committee.

Today is the big one. SAA and anyone else in the audiovisual sector is now under no doubt of which hearing they need to follow. Günther Oettinger.

Culture portfolio is losing departments as well as prestige and importance.

The popular winner in the press after the European Parliament elections is ‘others’, a mix of national eurosceptic, extreme right and anti-establishment parties that together represent the 3rd highest grouping (estimates put EPP at 213 seats, S&D at 189 seats and other at 105 seats).

And by out, we mean out there, being watched.

Ahead of the 7-8 February Special Summit on the EU’s Multi-Annual Financial Framework, the European Platform on the potential of Cultural and Creative Industries (‘The Platform’) - a group of more than 40 organisations representing a wide range of cultural and creative sectors – calls on EU Member States to adopt a strong budget for ‘Creative Europe’, the 2014-2020 programme for the cultural and creative sectors.