Brussels, 16/05/2002 (Agence Europe) - Among the films selected for the Cannes Film Festival, which opened on 15 May, eight received the backing of the EU Media Programme, for their development or distribution. The Commissioner for Culture, Viviane Reding will be in Cannes on 23 and 24 May to award, for the third time, the EU Media Prize on the occasion of the closure of the Fortnight of Directors, on 24 May. The eight films are: "Russian Ark" by Alexander Sokurov (Germany), "Carnarges" by Delphine Gleize (France), "Hermakono - En attendant le bonheur" by Abderrahmane Sissako (France), "Respiro" by Emanuele Crailese (Italy), "Sweet Sixteen" by Ken Loach (United Kingdom), "L'adversaire" by Nicole Garcia (France), "Marie-Jo et ses 2 amours" by Robert Guediguian (France), and "Hundstage" by Ulrich Seidl (Netherlands).
As a reminder, the Media Programme (2001-2005) supports the development, distribution and promotion of European audiovisual works, the training of professionals and pilot projects, notably in the realm of archives and digitalisation. With a budget of 400 million euro, it complements national schemes for supporting the audiovisual industry. The Media Prize (25,000 euro) is awarded to the first or second feature film of a young director, distributed in the largest number of countries outside their country of origin and having received the support of the Media programme for its distribution.