The Report includes a number of positive developments, most notably a budgetary allocation of €2.8b for the overall Creative Europe Programme, with no less than 58% of which being earmarked for its MEDIA strand – almost doubling its predecessor. This is of course a huge success and will not only go a long way towards enabling European culture and creativity to flourish, but also reflects the social, economic and cultural value of the European audiovisual sector – of which cinemas represent a key cornerstone.
UNIC is delighted with the focus on “Initiatives promoting audience engagement especially in cinemas and film and audiovisual education addressing in particular young audiences.” The text also places specific importance on a European cinema operators’ network who, through their work in screening non-national European films, contributing towards reinforcing “the role of cinema theatres in the value chain and highlighting public screenings as a social experience.” Furthermore, we are pleased to see a focus on theatrical distribution when aiming to enhance "enhance the transnational and international circulation, online and offline distribution" of European audiovisual works "in the new digital environment," as UNIC firmly believes that cinemas are integral to such actions.