MEDIA News December 2024

Wishing everyone a merry Christmas and a happy New Year! Many thanks to all who attended our events in 2024 and contacted us for support. We hope you enjoy your holiday break. We look forward to seeing you in 2025!

The European Audiovisual Observatory, part of the Council of Europe in Strasbourg, has just published its latest free report Green Transition in the Audiovisual Sector. This new report looks at the impact of the audiovisual sector on the environment. It examines international and pan-European legislation in this field, and then zooms in on national legislation and film funding criteria, to round off with a look at current carbon footprint calculating systems.

The report presents examples of sustainable initiatives, including a short case study of Sky Studios Elstree, where technical innovations and massive recycling efforts are already making a difference. Moving on to new technologies, the recent consequences of digital technology and consumption methods are examined. The author highlights the increasing energy consumption of the massive data centres which handle our digital content and customer details. The environmental aspects of AI are also explored.

Other topics include green legislation for audiovisual works - both at international and EU level. EU-specific legislation and examine the provisions concerning environmentally friendly practices in the audiovisual sector.  Of particular interest here is the Creative Europe Programme.

Download Green Transition in the Audiovisual Sector.

European Education and Culture Executive Agency (EECEA) will host a series of funding webinars on Creative Europe MEDIA and Cross Sector Funding Calls. 

All the webinars can be accessed on the EECEA website here. You don't need to register in advance - just click on the Join the session link on the page. This is also where you will find video playbacks of webinars and access presentations. 

Cross Sector Webinars

• Innovation Lab | 16th January 2025 | 10am - 12pm Irish time.

MEDIA supported films screening this month across Ireland in cinemas and online. We also highlight films showing in independent cinemas and cinema clubs that are part of the Europa Cinemas network as well as films promoted by Creative Europe and EU supported initiatives such as European Film Promotion, the European Film Awards, European Cinema Night and the LUX Audience Award.

A Season of Classic Films: Focus on Flora Kerrigan, IFI,  21st December

Rediscovered experimental films by Irish filmmaker Flora Kerrigan. Restored and presented by the Irish Film Institute with support from ACE – Association des Cinémathèques Européennes and the EU Creative Europe MEDIA programme. The programme will be accompanied by improvisational pianist Paul Smyth and double bass virtuoso John Edwards.

MEDIA Funding Call Deadlines 2025

The MEDIA strand supports the European film and audiovisual industries to develop, distribute and promote European works as well as funding markets, networking and training opportunities. If you have any questions about MEDIA funding calls, please do contact us.

• Video Games & Immersive Content, 12th February
• MEDIA 360, 9th January
• Innovative Tools & Business Models,16th January
• European Co-development, 26th February
• European Film Festivals, 11th March
• Films on the Move, 20th March
• Audience Development and Film Education, 27th March
• European Film Distribution, 24th April
• Skills & Talent Development, 24th April
• TV & Online Content,14th May

MEDIA Markets, Networks & Training

Join the Creative Europe MEDIA stand at the European Film Market 13th to 19th February 2025. The European Film Market is one of the top three meeting places of the international film and media industries.

Over a period of eight days from 13th to 19th February 2025 more than 10,000 representatives of the international film and media industries such as producers, buyers, sales agents, distributors and financiers come together to network and do business.

The MEDIA stand which is organised in conjunction with the Berlinale Film Festival aims to give you the possibility for business-to-business exchanges, scalability and to increase your capacity to operate transnationally and internationally. Applications are encouraged from independent European companies of all sizes, especially newcomers, as well as countries with a lower audiovisual capacity.

Creative Europe MEDIA umbrella stand offers:

• Online promotional catalogue
• Free coffee bar
• Dedicated Wi-Fi
• Welcome desk
• Meeting spaces and storage

Register for MEDIA stands at the European Film Market.

You can find a searchable database here that has training programmes currently supported by Creative Europe MEDIA.

Please note that bursaries can often be provided by the training organisations or by national authorities like Screen Ireland in the case of applicants based in Ireland.

In partnership with the European training development programme LIM | Less is More, Fís Éireann/Screen Ireland offers the chance for up to 10 Irish participants to take part in a six-days’ workshop from 6-11 April 2025 in Cork. This programme is free and accommodation and meals are also covered.

LIM Boosting Ideas Workshop aims to help at scriptwriters and directors to dig deeper into emotion, structure and the power of the story at early stage, before entering in the long run for development and even before writing.

As for Creative producers, the aim is to strengthen their ability to follow the development phase of feature film projects by discovering new tools to help an exciting development process, and in the meantime help the author shape and strengthen both story and meaning.

• Scriptwriters and Directors apply with one early-stage project for a fiction feature film they would explore through the week. Applying with the summary of an advanced script is not advised.
• Creative producers apply without a project.

Apply by 19th January 2025.

Supported by Creative Europe – MEDIA, LIM | Less is More is led by Le Groupe Ouest (France), developed with Control N (Romania), Vlaams Audiovisueel Fonds – VAF (Belgium), and Krakow Festival Office – KBF (Poland), in partnership with the Norwegian Film Institute, Région Bretagne (France), Focal (Switzerland), MOIN Film Fund Hamburg Schleswig-Holstein (Germany), Fís Éireann/Screen Ireland, as well as Ffilm Cymru Wales and the Baltics Film Centres (Lithuanian Film Centre, Estonian Film Institute and National Film Centre of Latvia).

The Creative Europe work programme for 2025 has a budget of almost €340 million. In 2025 Creative Europe will continue supporting the creative and cultural sectors including the audiovisual industry.

 Creative Europe's priorities in 2025 are:

• Digital transition: through the existing successful support actions, Creative Europe seeks to harness data and digital tools, including artificial intelligence, in the production and distribution of cultural and audiovisual content.
• Sustainability: In line with the EU Green Deal, the Commission will continue to support measures that can be effectively and efficiently introduced in Creative Europe actions to support a sustainable approach to projects’ design and implementation, while respecting the core aims of the programme.

Cross Sector Calls

• News Media Freedom Rapid Response Mechanism. Deadline 15th January 2025.
• Journalism Partnerships - Pluralism. Deadline 27th February 2025.
• Journalism Partnerships - Collaborations. Deadline 27th February 2025.
• Media Literacy. Deadline 6th March 2025.
• Cross Sector Creative Innovation Lab. Deadline 24th April 2025.

Cross Sector Webinars

• Innovation Lab | 16th January 2025 | 10am - 12pm Irish time.