OVER SEVEN YEARS THE LABEL HAS SUCCESSFULLY SUPPORTED 20 EUROPEAN FILMS

Europa Cinemas Exhibitors' Cannes meeting (May 16)  to analyse 2008 results across Europe and the further development of Europa Cinemas International into Latin America, Asia and the Mediterranean zone

Further supporting its ongoing campaign to promote European films, Europa Cinemas will return once again to this year's Cannes Film Festival, awarding its Label to the best European film in the Directors' Fortnight/Quinzaine des Réalisateurs section.

This marks the seventh year that the Europa Cinemas Label will be awarded at Cannes, and complements the Labels awarded at the Panorama section in Berlin, the Giornate degli Autori section in Venice, and Karlovy Vary.

The success of recent winning films is eloquent testament to the impact that the Label has on a film's profile and its circulation around Europe. Last year's Berlin winner, Götz Spielmann's Academy Award nominated REVANCHE has had successful releases in ten territories. The Cannes winner from 2008, Bouli Lanners' ELDORADO enjoyed great success in Belgium, France and Italy with Germany and the Netherlands to follow this year. Venice 2008 winner Uberto Pasolini's MACHAN had a solid opening in Italy, with releases set for France, Switzerland, Austria and Germany. Looking further back, Anton Corbijn's CONTROL, the Cannes winner from 2007, has been released in 20 countries around Europe, and Andrzej Jakimowski's TRICKS (Venice 2007) has won prizes at 6 international Festivals and has been sold in more than 20 countries.

Founded in 1992, the Europa Cinemas network now consists of a remarkable 1945 screens in 758 cinemas in 439 cities in 43 countries. Europa Cinemas' aim is to support the programming and visibility of European films outside their country of origin, and to foster initiatives aimed at encouraging younger audiences to develop their interest in European films and cultural diversity. Since 2004, Europa Cinemas has been extending its film theatre network outside Europe, particularly in Asia, South America and around the Mediterranean.

The Europa Cinemas jury for this year's Cannes Festival will consist of Nina Pece (Slovenia) - head of film distribution and director of Otok (Institute for the Development of Film Culture); Nicolas Bruyelle (Belgium) - Programmer at the Cinema Plaza Art à Mons; Rickard Gramfors (Sweden) - Project Manager, Digital Houses, Folkets Hus och Parker and Jean-Marie Virginie (France) - Programmer at the Cinema Jacques Tati à Orsay.

Previous winners of the Europa Cinemas Label are:

Cannes/Directors' Fortnight

2003:                The Mother (Roger Michell, UK)

                        Kitchen Stories (Bent Hamer, Norway/Sweden)

2004:                In the Battlefields / Dans les champs de bataille (Danielle Arbid, France / Belgium / Lebanon)

2005:                La Moustache (Emmanuel Carrère, France)

2006:                12:08 East of Bucharest/A Fost sau n-a fost ? (Corneliu Porumboiu, Romania)

2007:                Control (Anton Corbijn, UK)

2008:                Eldorado (Bouli Lanners, Belgium)

Berlin/Panorama

2005:                Live and Become / Radu Mihaileanu, France/Belgium/Israel)

Cockles and Muscles / Crustacés et Coquillages

(Olivier Ducastel, Jacques Martineau, France)

2006:                Tough Enough / Knallhart (Detlev Buck, Germany)

2007:                El Camino de los Ingleses / Summer Rain (Antonio Banderas, Spain)

2008:                Revanche (Götz Spielmann, Austria)

2009:                Welcome (Philippe Lioret, France)

Nord (Rune Denstad Langlo, Norway)

Venice/Venice Days

2004:                Darwin's Nightmare / Le Cauchemar de Darwin (Hubert Sauper, Austria/France/Belgium)

2005:                Le Petit Lieutenant (Xavier Beauvois, France)

2006:                Dark Blue Almost Black / Azul Oscuro Casi Negro (Daniel Sánchez Arévalo, Spain)

2007:                Tricks / Sztuczki (Andrzej Jakimowski, Poland)

2008:                Machan / Uberto Pasolini, UK/Germany)

Karlovy Vary (Main Competition and East of the West section)

2006:                Frozen City / Valkoinen kaupunki (Aku Louhimies, Finland)

2007:                The Class / Klass (Ilmar Raag, Estonia)

2008:                Bahrtalo! Good Luck! (Róbert Lakatos, Hungary)