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Home » Latest news » Wim Wenders stresses importance of European film at Parliament hearing

Wim Wenders stresses importance of European film at Parliament hearing

At a recent European Parliament public hearing, the German film director Wim Wenders and other key figures from European cinema addressed the Committee on Culture and Educationon the future of the industry. "There can be no genuine sense of shared European identity if we forget our culture, especially cinema", said the committee's Chair, Doris Pack, as she opened the meeting.

According to Wim Wenders, who is also President of the European Film Academy, Europe is often perceived by its citizens as a political, economic and bureaucratic structure with little place for culture. "The administration of Europe has become the image of Europe. This is one of the reasons for Euroscepticism", he said. He suggested focusing more attention on cinema as a solution to this problem: "Movies practically invented the American Dream. They can do miracles for the image of Europe too."

Despite the fact that approximately 80% of the films shown in Europe are American, about 1,200 films are produced each year in Europe. "We can be proud about the past and present of our cinema", said Wenders. What worried him, however, was that "for our children, movies are synonymous with blockbusters". He stated that "we are losing young audiences" and urged that media literacyshould become a compulsory subject in schools across the EU.

Wenders also noted that few films from other European countries are shown in EU Member States. This needed to be tackled, as our European identity "depends on sharing our culture and values". Wenders paid tribute to the MEDIA Programmeas well as the Parliament's LUX Prizefor enabling people to see films from other European countries.

Wim Wenders' full speech is available to download.

The hearing also launched the four-week screening cycle of the three films competing for the 2010 LUX Prize. The three contending films are MEDIA-supported: Akadimia Platonos (Plato's Academy), directed by Filippos Tsitos, Die Fremde (When We Leave)by Feo Aladag and Illégal (Illegal)by Olivier Masset-Depasse. Members of the European Parliament will vote to choose the winner and the award ceremony will take place on 24 November 2010 in Strasbourg, France.

Publication date: 17 Nov 2010