EUROPEAN COMMISSION - PRESS RELEASE
European films 'The Artist' and 'The Iron Lady'
scoop seven Oscars
Brussels 27 February 2012 – European Commissioner Androulla Vassiliou has
welcomed the major success of European films at last night's 84th Academy
Awards ceremony in Hollywood. 'The Artist' was crowned with five Oscars and 'The
Iron Lady' with two. This year, nine nominated films received support from the
European Union's MEDIA programme for cinema. 'The Artist' scooped the big
prizes for Best Picture, Best Director (Michel Hazanavicius), Best Actor (Jean
Dujardin), Costume Design (Mark Bridges) and Best Music (Ludovic Bource). 'The
Iron Lady' collected the statuettes for Best Actress (Meryl Streep) and Best Makeup
(Mark Coulier and J. Roy Helland).
Commissioner Vassiliou, who attended the premiere of 'The Artist' at the Cannes
Film Festival last May, said: "What a great night for the European film industry and
the MEDIA programme. My congratulations to 'The Artist' and 'The Iron Lady'. Once
again, the European film industry has shown it can compete with the best and come
out top."
Background
'The Iron Lady', a UK-French co-production, received €1.5 million in distribution
support to encourage cinemas to screen the film outside the country where it was
made. 'The Artist' (France-Belgium) received €17 000 for the same purpose.
Seven other EU-backed films were also nominated for Oscars:
- - 'Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy' (Tomas Alfredson, UK/France/Germany),
nominated for Best Actor, Best Original Score and Best Adapted Screenplay,
was awarded €300 000;
- 'Albert Nobbs' (Rodrigo García, UK/Ireland), nominated for Best Make Up
and Best Actress in a supporting role, received €130 000;
- 'A Cat in Paris' (Alain Gagnol, Jean-Loup Felicioli,
France/Belgium/Netherlands/Switzerland), nominated for Best Animation Film,
got €122 000,
- 'Chico and Rita' (Fernando Trueba and Javier Mariscal, Spain/UK), nominated
for Best Animation Film, was awarded €3 000;
- 'Bullhead' (Michaël R. Roskam, Belgium), nominated for Best Foreign
Language film, received €20 000;
- 'Jane Eyre' (Cary Joji Fukunaga, United Kingdom/USA), nominated for
Costume Design, was awarded €450 000;
- 'Pina' (Wim Wenders, Germany/France/UK), nominated for Documentary
feature, received €550 000.
IP/12/188
The amount of funding distributors receive from the MEDIA fund is based on
various criteria including previous ticket sales for non-national films. The funding is
re-invested in future distribution costs and in helping to off-set risks. Films can also
receive pre-production development funding from MEDIA.
MEDIA (a French acronym for "Mesure pour le Développement de l’Industrie
Audiovisuelle") is the 2007-2013 EU Programme which supports the European film
industry and the audiovisual sector. Over the 2014-2020 period, the Commission
has proposed a budget of €1.8 billion for Creative Europe; of this, more than €900
million would be allocated to MEDIA.
To find out more:
European Commission's website about the MEDIA programme
Androulla Vassiliou's website
Twitter: @VassiliouEU
Contacts :
Dennis Abbott (+32 2 295 92 58), Twitter: @DennisAbbott
Dina Avraam (+32 2 295 96 67)
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