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European Film Promotion (EFP) reaches further East: both the POLISH FILM INSTITUTE and the SLOVAK FILM INSTITUTE joined European Film Promotion (EFP), the European-wide network of film promotion and export organisations, during the 56th Berlin International Film Festival.

In April 2005, the NATIONAL FILM CENTER of Bulgaria was the most recent organisation to become a member of EFP, which now has 26 member organisations. “Sometimes things take a bit more time than you think when you start a project like ours”, says EFP-President, Claudia Landsberger. “We are therefore very happy in becoming more and more a complete European organisation including all European countries, which has been our aim as of the beginning.”

The new members see opportunities in being part of an international network, and the support will benefit the independent film industry and the creative talent of Poland and Slovakia.

Maciej Karpiñski, representative of the POLISH FILM INSTITUTE, hopes to make Polish films more visible on the European Scene in the future:

“The Polish Film Institute is perhaps the youngest among similar organisations in Europe. We need some time to catch up, and there is a lot of work to be done to promote Polish films in Europe and in the world in the way they deserve. One of our aims is to be present and visible on the European scene to be achieved by as wide as possible collaboration with European partners. That’s why one of our first moves is to join European Film Promotion, the network representing organisations who are our natural partners in our work. As members, we can learn a lot and at the same time share our experiences with our friends and collaborators around Europe for the good of Polish and European cinema. We are happy to join the European family in yet another field of activity.”

Alexandra Strelková of the SLOVAK FILM INSTITUTE also sees the collaboration with EFP as a very positive development:

“We expect several full-length Slovakian feature films to be released in 2006, as well as a growing number of premières for the years to come, and thus feel it is high time to extend our activities and devote even more attention to film promotion. Recently, the Slovak Film Institute has been involved in several international projects with the aim to promote and support Slovak films and audiovision. As these events were successful and we have been granted continuous support from the Ministry of Culture and our partner organisations, we feel it is important to continue and even deepen the support of Slovak films. For this reason, we have also closely followed the projects implemented by European Film Promotion and are now very happy to be able to join them.”