Aside from the fact that it’s always a pleasure to welcome members to Brussels to share their insights on cinema-going in specific UNIC territories, as well as on both European and national policy developments that impact the sector, the initiative has been extremely successful in opening-up opportunities for continued dialogue between the industry and the EU institutions. Its territory-focused approach has proved particularly useful in conveying the specific challenges, opportunities and developments that take place both at the national level from territory to territory and in a broader, European sense.
This year’s edition was split over 2 days - the first for Polish members and the second for representatives from Italy.
On 25 September 2018, we were joined by colleagues from the Polish Cinema Association, representing Helios, Cinema City and Multikino. UNIC and its Polish members met with Members of the European Parliament, the Deputy Permanent Representative of Poland to the EU, the Deputy Heads of Unit for both Copyright and Audiovisual and Media Service Policy at the European Commission’s DG CONNECT and a representative from the European Commission’s Creative Europe MEDIA Unit.
Following on from this, on 17 October 2018, UNIC welcomed colleagues from the Associazione Nazionale Esercenti Cinema (ANEC) and the Associazione Nazionale Esercenti Multiplex (ANEM) for another full day that included meetings with Members of the European Parliament, the cabinet of the President of the European Parliament and representatives from the European Commission DG CONNECT’s Copyright and Media Policy Units.
Many thanks to The Polish Cinema Association, ANEC and ANEM for their commitment and contributions towards this year’s edition and, with the European elections fast approaching, we very much look forward to continuing the initiative in the coming years.