Over the past 20 years, MEDIA, the EU's support programme for the European audiovisual industry, has supported the development and distribution of thousands of films as well as training activities, festivals and promotion projects throughout the continent. From 2001-2006, more than half a billion euros were injected into 8.000 projects from over 30 countries. MEDIA 2007 is divided into five action lines:

• training of professionals
• development  of production projects and companies
• distribution of cinematographic works and audiovisual programmes
• promotion of cinematographic works and audiovisual programmes, including the support for film festivals
• horizontal actions/pilot projects.

Its objectives are:

• to strive for a stronger European audiovisual sector, reflecting and respecting Europe’s cultural identity and heritage
• to increase the circulation of European audiovisual works inside and outside the European Union
• to strengthen the competitiveness of the European audiovisual sector by facilitating access to financing and promoting use of digital technologies

Link to Media 

Eurimages is the Council of Europe fund for the co-production, distribution and exhibition of European cinematographic works. Set up in 1988 as a Partial Agreement it currently has 35 Member States. Eurimages aims to promote the European film industry by encouraging the production and distribution of films and fostering co-operation between professionals. Eurimages’ first objective is cultural, in that it endeavours to support works which reflect the multiple facets of a European society whose common roots are evidence of a single culture. The second one is economic, in that the Fund invests in an industry which, while concerned with commercial success, is interested in demonstrating that cinema is one of the arts and should be treated as such. Bearing this in mind, Eurimages has developed four funding programmes:

• Assistance for co-production;
• Assistance for distribution;
• Assistance to cinemas;
• Assistance to digitisation of theatres which are members of the Eurimages network

Link to Eurimages

Created by the law of 25 October 1946, the Centre national du cinéma et de l'image animée (CNC) is a public administrative organization, set up as a separate and financially independent entity. The centre comes under the authority of the ministry of culture and communication and Eric Garandeau is its president.

The principal missions of the CNC are :

• regulatory
• support for the film, broadcast, video, multimedia and technical industries,
• promotion of film and television for distribution to all audiences
• preservation and development of the film heritage

Link  to CNC