Brussels, 01/03/2011 (Agence Europe) - A new EU-ACP programme to support the cultural sector, with an envelope of €30 million, will soon be brought into being. Its launch was announced by the European Commission on Tuesday 1 March, at the Pan-African Festival of Cinema and Television at Ouagadougou (FESPACO). The first call for tenders will help to fund projects, via the European Development Fund, of a total of €12 million, €7 million of which for audiovisual/cinema and €5 million for the other cultural industries.
“Culture is a vital element in social cohesion and identity. It is also a sector which generates wealth and jobs. My wish is that our support for the cultural sector will contribute to the economic, social and also political development of the ACP countries”, said European Development Commissioner, Andris Piebalgs, in a press release.
This programme will build upon the success of existing programmes, which made it possible, for instance, to produce the Chad film Un homme qui crie, by Mahamat-Saleh Haroun, which won the Prix du Jury at the Cannes film Festival of 2010, and the film The last flight of the Flamingo, by the Mozambique director João Ribeiro, which won the award for Best feature film at the third international film festival of Luanda (Angola). (A.N./transl.fl)