European Film Academy
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The European Film Academy and the European Film Awards are an initiative of a group of European filmmakers who came together in Berlin on the occasion of the first presentation of the European Film Awards in November 1988.
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[edit] European Film Academy
In 1989, the Academy – under the name of European Cinema Society - was officially founded by its first President, the Swedish director Ingmar Bergman, as well as 40 filmmakers from all over Europe in order to promote European film culture world-wide and to protect and to support the interests of the European film industry. Wim Wenders was elected Chairman. Two years later, the European Cinema Society was renamed European Film Academy and was registered as a non-profit association.
In 1996, Wim Wenders took over the presidency from Ingmar Bergman, and the British producer Nik Powell was elected new Chairman. The decisions about political targets and contents are made by the 15 Board members of the Academy which has its seat in Berlin.
Due to a decision of the General Assembly, the number of members - originally limited to 99 - has been continuously increasing and has now reached 1,500 (as of January 2002). The Academy is thus working in close contact with the European film industry.
The European Film Academy (EFA) is located in Berlin, Germany.
European Film Academy e.V., Kurfürstendamm 225, 10719 Berlin, Germany, Tel: +49-30-8871670
[edit] Staff and Structure
The President Wim Wenders The Board Chairman Yves Marmion Deputy Chairmen Nik Powell, Volker Schlöndorff
Board Members Brenda Blethyn, Adriana Chiesa di Palma, Pierre-Henri Deleau, Mike Downey, Ulrich Felsberg, Per Holst, Stephan Hutter, Cedomir Kolar, Stefan Laudyn, Nikita Mikhalkov, Antonio Perez Perez, Domenico Procacci, Assumpta Serna, István Szabó, Els Vandevorst
Honorary Members of the Board: Sir Ben Kingsley, Dušan Makavejev, Jeanne Moreau
The Secretariat Marion Döring, Director / Gisela Corsten, Head of Finances / Maria von Hörsten, Co-ordination awarding procedures European Film Awards / Pascal Edelmann, Press/PR / Nikola Joetze, Junior Producer / Rainer Pyls, Accounting / Administration EFA Members / Bettina Schwarz, Co-ordination Prix UIP/Training projects / Viviane Gajewski, Assistance
[edit] The Annual EFA Programme
Throughout the year, the European Film Academy (EFA) initiates and participates in a series of activities dealing with film politics as well as economic, artistic, and training aspects. The programme includes conferences, seminars and workshops, and a common goal is to build a bridge between creativity and the industry. Some of EFA's events have already become an institution for encounters within the European film community:
The Prix UIP is an initiative by UIP and the European Film Academy in co-operation with fourteen festivals throughout Europe. The winning short film receives a financial donation of € 2,000 and an automatic nomination in the short film category of the European Film Awards.
A Sunday in the Country is a special weekend encounter between appr. ten young European filmmakers and some established EFA members. The private atmosphere of these gatherings guarantees an exchange of ideas and experience which goes far beyond the results of usual workshops.
Conferences and Seminars Every year, a series of conferences initiated and/or supported by the European Film Academy enhance a European debate on film, create platforms for a vivid exchange among film professionals and ensure that the discussion of what European film is, how it is changing and where it is going never expires.
Master Classes offer valuable training opportunities for young talent, combining theoretical and practical training. The high-profile list of former masters includes renowned film professionals such as Jean-Jacques Annaud, Jan De Bont, Henning Carlsen, André Delvaux, Bernd Eichinger, Krzysztof Kieslowski, Jiri Menzel, Tilda Swinton, István Szabó, Marc Weigert, Mike Newell, Tsui Hark, Allan Starski and Anthony Dod Mantle.
[edit] European Film Awards
The annual European Film Awards ceremony (formerly known as FELIX) is the most visible activity of the European Film Academy. With the awards - which have been produced since 1997 by DDA Productions Ltd., London, – the Academy pursues the following aims: attracting the interest of the audience in European cinema, promoting its cultural and artistic qualities, and regaining the public’s confidence in its entertainment value. To put these ideas into practice, the People’s Choice Awards were added as a new category in 1997. They are accompanied by big advertising campaigns in European film magazines. In addition, screenings of the nominated films were in the past years organised for the public in several European cities (Berlin, Edinburgh, London, Stockholm, Strasbourg, Warsaw).
In 2000, the Academy agreed a co-operation contract with United International Pictures (UIP) and ten festivals in Europe (Gent/Belgium, Valladolid/Spain, Edinburgh/UK, Angers/France, Berlin/Germany, Tampere/Finland, Vila do Conde/Portugal, Grimstad/Norway, Sarajevo/Bosnia and Herzegovina, Venice/Italy). According to this agreement, UIP and EFA jointly award a prize for a short film at each of these festivals; the recipient is automatically nominated for the European Film Awards in the category European Short Film – Prix UIP.
In 1998, 1999, 2000 and 2001, the awards ceremony was broadcast on TV in almost every European country as well as in the US, Latin America and New Zealand.
The members of the European Film Academy actively participate in the selection, nomination and awarding procedure.
The European Film Awards are the first in the annual international awards calendar. Most of the nominees and winners of the European Film Awards are found in the following months among the nominees and winners of the Golden Globes or the Oscars. In the past years, European producers and distributors repeatedly stressed that a nomination or receipt of the European Film Award had a positive impact on the destiny of their films with regard to the Golden Globe or the Oscar.
[edit] European-American film talk
Every year in the autumn, EFA and Freundeskreis der Villa Aurora e.V. organise a meeting in the former villa of German-Jewish writer Lion Feuchtwanger in Los Angeles. At the round table, European and American filmmakers are invited during one day to explore concrete ways for transatlantic co-operation.
[edit] European film awards sidebar events
Every year, the European Film Academy organises a sidebar programme on the occasion of the European Film Awards week-end with panel discussions and conferences. Thus, innovative production methods for the new millennium were discussed at the conference which took place in Berlin in 1999, whereas in 2000, nine European filmmakers of international reputation (among them, Wim Wenders, Liv Ullmann, Tom Tykwer, Dominik Moll, Pavel Longouine, Maria de Medeiros) as well as the EU commissioner Viviane Reding made very personal and visionary speeches on the artistic, cultural, and social role of cinema in front of 800 guests at Theâtre de l’Odéon in Paris, where the conference E LA NAVE VA - For a New Energy in European Cinema was held.
[edit] The status quo
The European Film Academy is mainly funded by the Stiftung Deutsche Klassenlotterie Berlin (German National Lottery), the German State Minister for Culture and the Media, and Filmboard Berlin-Brandenburg GmbH.
The European Film Awards are taking place every second year in Berlin, where the Academy is based, while they are presented every other year in another European film capital.
The presentation of the European Film Awards are financed independently from the Academy. Since 1997, EFA has contracted DDA Productions Ltd., London, as exclusive producers of the awards ceremony and their international broadcast on TV.
For five years now, the European Film Awards have been supported by patrons from the international film industry with an annual amount of $10,000 each. Their commitment proves the importance that the international film industry attaches to the European Film Awards. In addition, the Academy has established co-operations with a number of sponsors from the private sector who are supporting the European Film Awards on a long-term basis: courier service TNT (express logistics mail)(since 1997), DaimlerChrysler, UIP United International Pictures and DAS WERK.
