The campaign under the aegis of film directors Ken Loach (UK) and Malgorszata Szumowska (Poland) has been designed on the occasion of the 30th European Film Awards, which will take place in Berlin on Saturday, 9 December 2017.
Ken Loach underlines his engagement with the need for young filmmakers to take responsibility: „Being a filmmaker means to take responsibility. Our films enable us to raise our voices for freedom, justice and solidarity. We are stronger as a group than as individuals. The European Film Academy is a community where we can support each other and, when necessary, show solidarity in the face of persecution. The Academy should stand for the interests of the people against the dominance of big corporations or oppressive states. I hope all film makers will join and be active members of the Academy. It is the expression of collective traditions and our determination to keep our cinema alive.“
Malgorszata Szumowska addresses herself especially to young female film professionals: „It is very important that the young generation of filmmakers engages itself for the future of cinema and of our societies. And I want to especially encourage my female colleagues: The more we are, the stronger we will be! We can only strengthen our position in the cinema universe if we are taking our destiny in our hands. EFA is a good platform for doing this.“
Film professionals who want to join the 3,200 members of the European Film Academy must be European* filmmakers under 36 years of age. They must have worked on at least one feature-length film (fiction, animation or documentary) and the film must have had an official screening in a regular, international section of a competitive FIAPF-accredited European film festival or been nominated by a national film academy. All applications have to be supported by one EFA Member.
For a reduced membership fee they will get full voting rights for the European Film Awards including exclusive access to the EFA VOD Platform with approx. 100 films per year. As EFA Members, they will also get voting rights for the EFA Board.