#Romania2019.eu/Breaz: Romania appreciates EC role in making of European and Romanian audiovisual works under Creative Europe

Romania appreciates the "very important" role of the European Commission in the making of some European and Romanian audiovisual works through the Creative Europe - MEDIA programme of the EU, Minister of Culture and National Identity Valer-Daniel Breaz said in the opening of the conference "Strengthening European cooperation through co-productions." "Romania appreciates the "very important" role played by the European Commission in the making of the Romanian and European audiovisual works through the Creative Europe-MEDIA programme of the EU. The event today, organised by the Ministry of Culture and National Identity - the Project Management Unit, with the support of the European Commission, in the context of the Romanian presidency of the Council of the EU, and being addressed to professionals in the international cinema industry, highlights the importance that the MCIN-UMP grants to the cinema field and is the more important as the Council of EU's working group in the audiovisual, which brings together the representatives of member states, debates on the Conclusions draft proposed by the Romanian presidency of the Council of the EU regarding the Strengthening of the cross-border circulation of the European audiovisual works with an emphasis on co-productions," pointed out Breaz. According to the Minister of Culture, "considering also the projects in which national organisations participated as partners, the total number of projects financed by Creative Europe - MEDIA involving Romanian organisations was 172." "For 2018, the total value of the funds from Creative-Europe - MEDIA invested in projects or grants to Romanian companies accounted for 905,726 euros," informed Breaz. The Minister of Culture also underscored he wishes for an acceleration of the process of signing and ratifying the European Convention on cinema co-productions (revised), "updating thus the normative framework that regulates European co-productions and facilitating the participation of Romanian producers in the making of the co-productions." "We are honoured to host in Romania the 154th meeting of the Eurimages Board, in the year when the fund celebrates 30 years since establishment. The debates occasioned by this meeting will for sure represent a valuable contribution to the conclusion of some important documents for the European cinema industry. We are hoping that this event will clearly reflect the circulation of values, axiological principles and good practices in the making of cinema co-productions, under the impulse given by the new technological challenges, as well as their impact in promoting the European cultural identity, through boosting competitiveness of the European audiovisual sector," said the Minister of Culture. The conference "Strengthening European cooperation through co-productions" aims at presenting the fundamental elements that contributed to the creation of the current cinematographic landscape of co-productions and exploration of new collaboration modalities, to increase competitiveness of the European audiovisual sector, as well as capitalize on the good quality European productions," the Ministry of Culture and National Identity (MCIN) mentions. The event is organised by the Ministry of Culture and National Identity, through the Project Management Unit, with the support of the European Commission, in the context of the Romanian Presidency of the Council of EU, and is addressed to professionals in the international cinema industry. AGERPRES (RO - author: Daniel Popescu, editor: Mihai Simionescu; EN - author: Cristina Zaharia, editor: Adina Panaitescu)