COVID-19 & AV sector

UNIC is collecting detailed information on the impact of the Coronavirus outbreak on the cinema industry across the 38 territories it represents – please see public version here

The research includes detailed information on national closure processes, support mechanisms, measures relating to employment, taxation, rent and related costs. as well as a selection of key box office figures shared by Comscore.

07/04: Global Cinema Federation Calls for Unity and Support – Global Cinema Federation

The Global Cinema Federation is committed to working with national and international institutions and partners through the weeks and months to come to ensure that cinemas survive this testing time and once again become the vibrant home of culture and community that they always have been.

08/04: Joint Film and Audiovisual Sector COVID-19 Statement - UNIC

The film and audiovisual sector in Europe calls for urgent action by EU and Member State decision-makers to safeguard the future of the sector in the wake of the COVID-19 outbreak, following in the footsteps of initial emergency measures announced at national level, including by film funds and other bodies.

European Commission

06/04: Coronavirus: Commission and European Investment Fund (part of EIB Group) unlock €8 billion in finance for 100,000 small and medium-sized businesses – European Commission

The European Commission has unlocked €1 billion from the European Fund for Strategic Investments (EFSI) that will serve as a guarantee to the European Investment Fund (EIF), part of the European Investment Bank Group. This will allow the EIF to issue special guarantees to incentivise banks and other lenders to provide liquidity to at least 100,000 European SMEs and small mid-cap companies hit by the economic impact of the coronavirus pandemic, for an estimated available financing of €8 billion.

09/04: Coronavirus: Commission Statement on consulting Member States on proposal to further expand State aid Temporary Framework to recapitalisation measures – European Commission

The European Commission has sent to Member States for consultation a draft proposal to further extend the scope of the State aid Temporary Framework adopted on 19 March 2020 to support the economy in the context of the coronavirus outbreak.

09/04: Remarks by Commissioner Gentiloni at the Eurogroup press conference – European Commission

08/04: Coronavirus: Commission invites Member States to prolong restriction on non-essential travel to the EU until 15 May – European Commission

The Commission invited Schengen Member States and Schengen Associated States to prolong the temporary restriction on non-essential travel to the EU until 15 May. The experience of Member States and other countries exposed to the pandemic shows the measures applied to fight the spread of the virus require more than 30 days to be effective.

European Parliament

08/04: Sassoli to EU governments: Rise to the challenge. Find new shared ways to finance our recovery – European Parliament

14/04: MEPs to discuss how to better protect consumers in times of COVID-19 – European Parliament

The Internal Market and Consumer Protection Committee will discuss EU measures to protect consumers and safeguard their rights with Commissioner Didier Reynders.

Council of the EU

09/04: Report on the comprehensive economic policy response to the COVID-19 pandemic – Council of the EU

The report includes the coordinated actions taken so far at the level of the Member States, the EU and the euro area and additional crisis response instruments to prepare the ground for the recovery.

08/04: COVID-19: Council gives go-ahead to further use of cohesion resources – Council of the EU

EU ambassadors agreed the Council’s position on a second package of measures in less than a month aimed at freeing up more money from EU structural funds for crisis-related operations. Given the unprecedented challenges facing member states, the proposed changes were endorsed without amendment in order to speed up the legislative process.

Croatian Presidency of the Council of the EU

08/04: Ministers of Culture and Media discussed measures aimed at assisting the cultural and creative sector – EU 2020 HR

Ministers of culture at a video conference examined the consequences of the COVID-19 pandemia on the cultural and creative sector and discussed possible measures for mitigating negative effects of the crisis.

Events:

14 April: Commissioner Gabriel participates in a videoconference with EPP members of the European Parliament's Culture and Education Committee

14 April: Extraordinary IMCO Committee meeting

15 April: President von der Leyen to present an update on EU’s Coronavirus exit strategy

15 April: Commissioner Gabriel participates in a high-level videoconference with chief scientific advisors, ministers and leaders of international partners on COVID-19

15 April: Commissioner Kyriakides participates in a videoconference of the informal EPSCO Council organised by the Croatian Presidency of the Council of the EU

16 April: Commissioner Kyriakides participates in a videoconference of the G7 Health Ministerial Coordination Meeting on COVID-19 developments

16 April: High-level videoconference of Foreign Affairs Ministers

16 April: High-level videoconference of Economics & Finance Ministers

16-17 April: European Parliament Plenary 

19 April: Commissioner Kyriakides participates in a teleconference of the G20 Health Ministers

20-21 April: European Parliament JURI Committee meeting, Brussels

Postponed IMCO reports – please see here

23 April: EUROGROUP meeting to discuss EU economic recovery package and exit plan

15 July: Postponed CJEU opinion on the YouTube copyright case

Cancellation Is Out of the Question! goEast – Festival of Central and Eastern European Film Will Take Place from May 5th to 11th 2020: with Select Programme Highlights Online and On-Demand // Symposium and Competition Films in Cinemas Later This Year, Because: Film Art Belongs on the Big Screen! // Accreditation and Press Conference

The film and audiovisual sector in Europe calls for urgent action by EU and Member State decision-makers to safeguard the future of the sector in the wake of the COVID- 19 outbreak, following in the footsteps of initial emergency measures announced at national level, including by film funds and other bodies. 

Summer festivals are not just the events we attend to absorb art – the major part of the motivation behind visiting is meeting people and sharing our time with them. We are deprived of such liberties in the time of an epidemic and we are temporarily denied the possibility of travelling and searching for new experiences, of enjoying ourselves with friends, and consuming art first-hand, side by side with its creators.

We acknowledge the gravity of the current situation and pay close attention to the latest reports which indicate that most probably, we would not be able to properly organise all of the elements that are crucial to every Fest Anča for July 2020 – such as the presence of special programme guests and foreign animators whose films made it into the official festival selection – or any other guests, probably. We could not even guarantee that you – our visitors could come and participate.

Without some, or all, of these ingredients, Fest Anča would taste unimaginably sad.

Therefore, we decided that 13th edition of Fest Anča will not take place on July 2 to 5, 2020, as originally planned. Instead, we postponed it to a later date on which, hopefully, we will be able to deliver an unabridged festival experience.

The new date is: August 27 to 30. The festival stays in Žilina, Slovakia!

“From our point of view, we need to act responsibly and be realistic. We are occupied with the preparations for the festival all-year-round and changing the date is not an easy task, but we do believe, however, that protecting everyone’s health is a priority. We keep on working and organising the festival and believe that we will be able to meet our visitors, guests, partners and friends in Žilina at the end of August, which is our new date,” explained Ivana Sujová, the festival directress. “It’s clear now that after the imminent threat fades away, people will crave cultural events – and artists and culture will need all of their supporters and partners, more than ever.”

The festival’s website features answers to some of the questions visitors may have in order to help them with adjusting their plans effectively and warm them up for a nice post-pandemic rendezvous on the new date.

Fest Anča International Animation Festival – the only Slovak multimedia festival focused on animated film – is based in a former synagogue and former train station that have been, both,  transformed into vibrant cultural centers.

The festival aims to showcase contemporary, progressive animated films, and commemorate the cream of the genre. The long-term vision is to approximate well-known international festivals by uniquely showcasing this art form in Slovakia.

The festival features an international competition of animated short films and music videos, as well as non-competitive screening sections. Attendees can additionally enjoy presentations, exhibitions, workshops, film screenings for children, and numerous accompanying events.

More info at:

festanca.sk
facebook.com/festanca 
instagram.com/fest_anca
twitter.com/festanca
vimeo.com/festanca
photo gallery from Fest Anča 2019

See you at Fest Anča 2020!

Fest Anča 2020 International Animation Festival is financially supported by the Slovak Audiovisual Fund and LITA Fund. Supported using public funds by the Slovak Arts Council. The festival is held under the auspices of the Mayor of Žilina, Peter Fiabáne.

In case you have any questions, we will be happy to answer them at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..

Due to the worldwide measures to control the spread of the new Coronavirus, SOFA – School of Film Advancement is breaking new ground in the preparations for the second workshop of its seventh edition: this workshop, which traditionally takes place in Tbilisi, Georgia, is going to be held exceptionally as an online-only edition. 

From April 25-30, this second workshop of the 2019/2020 edition will concentrate on further developing the marketing and financing aspects of the participants’ projects. To do this, SOFA will avail itself of the variety of e-learning possibilities ranging from presentations, one-on-one meetings and e-dinners through to screenings, interviews and group discussions. Selected events will be live-streamed for the general public (please follow us on Facebook for details). The six participants of this edition, who will e-meet an illustrious round of experts and tutors, are: Viki Antonopoulou (Greece), Pavel Brăila (Moldova), Irena Gruca- Rozbicka (Poland/Germany), Drita Llolla (Montenegro), Přemysl Martinek (Czech Republic) and Medea Sharikadze (Georgia). 

“Thanks to an intense first workshop in Warsaw in August 2019 and subsequent online group sessions, the participants have got to know each other very well”, explains SOFA director Nikolaj Nikitin. “This will help a lot to make this first-ever digital Tbilisi edition a success. In spite of the sad current circumstances and the lack of personal encounters, which are the basis of our highly individual training concept, we see great opportunities for being able to implement online techniques and methodologies. We’d like to express special thanks to our financing partners for their ongoing support and flexibility.” 

In order to achieve the educational goal of the workshop, the SOFA team will be supported by some great experts: Jonas Dornbach (Komplizen Film, Berlin), Juliette Duret (Head of Cinema at the Centre for Fine Arts, Brussels), Renaud Redien-Collot (Professor of Entrepreneurship and Innovation at Léonard de Vinci Business School, Paris), Juliane Schulze (Media Deals, Berlin), Oliver Baumgarten (Artistic Director, Film Festival Max Ophüls Preis, Saarbrücken), and Tamara Tatishvili (MEDICI Head of Training).

SOFA – School of Film Advancement is a programme of workshops aimed at strengthening national film industries and the European cinematic landscape, as well as kick-starting projects in the realm of cinema. SOFA helps its participants to advance their ideas into concrete projects, opening up new avenues towards application for financing programmes and final implementation. SOFA’s focus on cultural managers and film entrepreneurs rather than producers and directors has made it a unique programme on the international film/AV scene.

https://www.joinsofa.org/
https://www.facebook.com/SchoolOfFilmAdvancement/

SOFA – School of Film Advancement is a joint project of Filmplus gUG (Berlin) and the Institute for Democratic Changes - IDC (Tbilisi), funded by German Federal Foreign Office and Creative Europe – MEDIA Programme of the European Union. In addition, the 2020 Polish workshop is funded by the Polish Film Institute, SdpZ (Foundation for Polish- German Cooperation), and the Lithuanian session by the Lithuanian Film Centre. The organisers also wish to thank the strategic partners Goethe-Institut and EAVE. 

For further information, please contact: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.