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Dear President,
Your Excellencies,
Ladies and Gentlemen,

It is an honour and a privilege for me to address you on the occasion of the 25th anniversary of Eurimages.

The mission of the Council of Europe is to ensure that the fundamental rights and freedoms laid down in the European Convention of Human Rights do not remain mere declarations of intent. The work of our whole Organisation is geared at ensuring that the fundamental rights and freedoms are implemented.

As an Enlarged Partial Agreement of the Council of Europe, Eurimages contributes to this mission.

Eurimages is an essential tool to ensuring freedom of expression and diversity in the cinema sector.

Eurimages gives artists the opportunity to make films that are not only entertainment, but express points of views, ideas, and visions of the world that can also be critical of the established authorities.

Without Eurimages many films would not be made and our European democracies and the diversity of our cultural heritage, which characterises us as Europeans, would have been impoverished.

Films are collective works of art: it takes several people to make a film, many different professionals capable of putting the right ingredients together. Eurimages supports films made in co-production: that means films realized by professionals of different nationalities, different cultures, different languages, different backgrounds, different religion and different origins.

The added value of their shared work is the ability of these films to circulate in numerous countries, beyond national boundaries. Essentially, professionals from all around the world put together their ideas, values, principles and points of view, and their common effort is able to talk to our hearts and our minds. Their message is universal, that is the reason why they circulate in so many countries and they win festivals and events. Cinematographic
co-productions are nothing but a perfect example of “intercultural dialogue”: they talk to the human being beyond passports and nationalities.

They help us to negotiate different viewpoints and to better understand each other, helping us to overcome the challenges that Europe faces.

This knowledge contributes to an identity process, which is fundamental for human development and a resource for enhancement of cultural diversity and the promotion of intercultural dialogue.

Dear friends,

I would like to take this opportunity to congratulate the President, the Representatives and the Ambassadors of the 36 countries of this Partial Agreement, the Executive Director and the whole Secretariat for the very successful and effective work done.

The success of Eurimages is evident in the number of films winning festivals and manifestations. Let me just mention a few: the Palme d’Or of the Cannes Film Festival for the last three years in a row, last Oscar for the best foreign language film with “La Grande Bellezza” of Paolo Sorrentino, and the Golden Lion of the Venice film festival with the last film of the Swedish director Roy Anderson “A Pigeon Sat on a Branch Reflecting on Existence”.

Eurimages has reached a level of sophistication in its selection processes which allows this small European Fund to choose the best projects with the right ingredients.

I am confident that Eurimages will continue developing to ensure another 25 years of excellence. Thank you for your attention.