Warsaw: The audiovisual summit “From MEDIA to CREATIVE EUROPE kicks off today 11 December at 9.55 CET in Warsaw and film professionals will be able to watch the event live online. FNE as one of the main partners of the event has prepared up to the minute industry country profiles on all the 13 countries in the region.

FNE will also be linking you to the live streaming of this important event. For the live streaming click HERE

The summit will open with keynote speeches by Polish director Agnieszka Holland who was recently appointed Chairwoman of the European Film Academy and Jan Truszczynski - Director General for Education, Training, Culture and Youth at the European Commission. Monika Smoleń – Undersecretary of State at the Ministry of Culture and National Heritage of Poland and Witold Graboś – Vice-President of the National Broadcasting Council of Poland will follow with their opening speeches.

The summit aims to share the experiences of the MEDIA Programme in New Europe countries. The conference aims for exchanging the experiences and views on the influence of MEDIA programme on the development of audiovisual markets in new Member States of the European Union. It will investigate the ways in which common experiences can help new Member States participate in the new CREATIVE EUROPE Programme.

The organizers of the audiovisual summit are aiming for the diagnosis of the condition of audiovisual markets,especially those located in Central and Eastern Europe, and to point the direction of their future development. Everyone who’s unable to participate in the conference is invited to watch it live at MEDIA Desk Poland website. English is the working language of the conference.

The organisers of the audiovisual summit “From MEDIA to CREATIVE EUROPE. The experiences of the MEDIA Programme in New Europe countries. Challenges for the Future" have announced the highlights of the programme of the event that will take place on December 11-12th in Warsaw.

Setting the scene and priming the discussion will be keynote speakers including Jan Truszczyński, Director-General of the European Commission's Directorate-General for Education and Culture and Bogdan Zdrojewski, Polish Minister of Culture and National Heritage. The summit will focus on the influence of the MEDIA Programme on the development of the audiovisual markets in the new member states of the European Union, and investigate how the common experiences can allow for fuller participation in the new CREATIVE EUROPE Programme. It is predicted to also be an opportunity to diagnose the condition of the audiovisual markets, especially those located in Central and Eastern Europe and to point the direction of their future development.

The programme highlights include discussion panels with the industry representatives and key decision makers from European Comission and new member states, working groups and the presentation of a “manifesto” of identified problems, challenges and recommendations.

Among the panel subjects touching on the hottest issues in filmmaking are new business models and value chains in the audiovisual industries of new member states and case studies of companies who have become international thanks to the MEDIA Programme.

Working groups will be tasked to identify problems related to the production and consumption patterns of film and TV drama in Europe,working practices in the new member countries, and the impact of national and European cultural and media policies. The groups will include the most important public and private stakeholders and will draw on existing problems and mechanisms to formulate recommendations for possible solutions.

Discussion panels and presentations of working groups’ recommendations will be live-streamed on the websites of MEDIA Desks from new member states.