8 Oscars were awarded to "Slumdog Millionaire" at the 81st Academy Award ceremony in Hollywood. This UK film was co-funded under the EU's film support programme MEDIA. These include the most prestigious prizes: Best Film and Best Director (Danny Boyle).

"I congratulate the makers of Slumdog Millionaire for their success, which is as breathtaking as the film's rags to riches plot. The scale of the triumph, be it the eight Oscars or its popularity with audiences worldwide, shows that the support by the EU's MEDIA programme is paying off", said Viviane Reding, EU Media Commissioner. "The EU's MEDIA programme makes sure films made in the EU gets a chance to meet judge and jury, in the form of audiences worldwide and competing for international prestigious awards. The success of Slumdog Millionaire shows, more than ever, that MEDIA funding is money well spent, as it helps Europe's cinema spread its cultural diversity around the globe."

"Slumdog Millionaire" received Euro 830,000 support from the MEDIA programme for distribution in 2008 and 2009. The total budget of the film is estimated to be Euro 11 million.

Seven films funded by the EU's MEDIA film support programme were nominated for Oscars at this year's Academy Awards: Der Baader Meinhof Komplex (Germany, Uli Edel), Entre les murs (France, Laurent Cantet), Waltz with Bashir (Israel/France/Germany, Ari Folman), Happy Go Lucky (UK/Mike Leigh), The Duchess (UK/France/Italy, Saul Dibb), Slumdog Millionaire (UK/US, Danny Boyle) and the award-winning documentary, Man on Wire (UK/US, James Marsh).

The EU's MEDIA programme provided significant financial support to these films figuring high on the nominations list of the Oscars Ceremony. The total contribution from the EU's MEDIA programme for these films alone amounted to Euro 3,028,000, with even more support likely to follow for distributing the film to cinemas.

Last year, the Oscar winner for best foreign language film was the MEDIA-funded Austrian-German co-production "The Counterfeiters" (Die Fälscher) (IP/08/298). In 2007, the German MEDIA-funded "The Lives of Others" (Das Leben der Anderen), won the Oscar for the Best Foreign Language film. In 2006 the French MEDIA-funded "The March of the Penguins" (La Marche de l'empereur) was awarded the Oscar for the Best Documentary film.

The EU's MEDIA programme plays a crucial role in supporting Europe's audiovisual sector through the development and distribution of thousands of films as well as training activities, festivals and promotion projects throughout Europe. Nine out of every ten feature films in Europe distributed outside their home country received MEDIA support every year.

Background

The MEDIA programme has a fund of Euro 755 million for Europe's film industry for the 2007-2013 period. This January the Commission also proposed a MEDIA MUNDUS programme that will provide another Euro 15 million of funding from 2011-2013 for projects submitted by audiovisual professionals from the EU and non-EU countries. A clear priority of both the MEDIA and the MEDIA MUNDUS programme is the distribution and promotion of European films outside their original country, across Europe (almost 65% of the total MEDIA budget) and the globe.

The MEDIA programme's overall objectives are to strengthen the competitiveness of the European audiovisual sector by facilitating access to financing and promoting use of digital technologies, to reflect and respect Europe's cultural identity and heritage, and to increase the circulation of European audiovisual works inside and outside the European. In 2008 the MEDIA programme supported over 1,800 projects with a total Euro 107 million.

http://ec.europa.eu/media

http://www.oscar.com/

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For Further Details contact:

Ms Gunjan Chanana
Press Officer, Press and Information
DELEGATION OF EUROPEAN COMMISSION TO INDIA
Ph: 011- 2462 9237
Email: gunjan.chanana@ec.europa.eu



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