If you wish to have more detailed information about Direzione Generale per il Cinema – MIBAC and its supporting measures for the film industry please have a look at their website: www.beniculturali.it

The Initiative aimed at overcoming the division in blocks by re-establishing cooperation links, among countries of different political orientations and economic structures.

At the first Summit in Venice in 1990, Czechoslovakia was admitted and the Initiative was renamed Pentagonale. In 1991, with the admission of Poland it became the Hexagonale. The Yugoslav crisis in 1991 severely hampered the functioning of the Hexagonale, but it proved its vitality. The organisation was renamed Central European Initiative (CEI) in 1992. It is now the largest forum of regional cooperation among eighteen Member States of Central, Eastern and South Eastern Europe.

Since its establishment in 1996, the CEI Secretariat was headed by:
-Director General Ambassador Paul Hartig (Austria) from 1996 to 2001
-Director General Ambassador Harald Kreid (Austria) from 2002 to 2007
-Secretary General Ambassador Pietro Ercole Ago (Italy) from 2008 to 2009
As of 1 January 2010, Ambassador Gerhard Pfanzelter (Austria) has taken up his duties as Secretary General.

Working with a worldwide network of partners we are involved in programmes for producers in Europe, Russia, Latin America, the Arab world, Asia and Africa.

Founded in 1988, our objectives are to provide professional training opportunities and to bring producers from different regions of the world together with the aim of facilitating co-production relationships. We believe that the support of independent voices, creative imagination and culturally driven companies within the global media industries is an urgent necessity in the 21st century. Through our work we aim to contribute towards the creation of strong networks of producers and to encourage the exchange of knowledge and skills which will strengthen independent production across the world.

MEDIA is a support programme of the European Union to strengthen the competitiveness of the European film, TV and new media industries and to increase the international circulation of European audiovisual product.
The MEDIA Programme was initiated by the European Union in 1991 and on 1 January 2007 MEDIA 2007 entered into force and will end in 2013. Like its forerunners, MEDIA 2007 focuses on activities before and after production offering support for training, pro¬ject development, distribution and promotion. The Programme also puts in place measures to accompany the changes that digitisation is producing in the audiovisual sector at all stages of the production and distribution chain, including in terms of new skills for professionals in the sector.
The budget is €755 million over seven years (2007-13). The overall objectives of MEDIA 2007 are to preserve and enhance European cultural diversity and its cinematographic and audiovisual heritage; guar¬antee accessibility to this for Europeans and promote intercultural dialogue; to increase the circulation of European audiovisual works inside and outside the European Union; to strengthen the competitiveness of the European audiovisual sector in the framework of an open and competi¬tive market.
The MEDIA Programme is administered by the MEDIA Unit at the Directorate of Education and Culture of the European Commission. A separate body, the Education, Audiovisual and Culture Executive Agency, manages operational delivery of the Programme. All around Europe profession¬als can ask more information to their National MEDIA offices called MEDIA Desks and Antennas.

Contact details: Antenna Media Torino | Via Cagliari 42 – 10153 Torino | T: +39 011 539853  |  info@antennamediatorino.eu|www.media-italia.eu