A European Story
A network of regional European film funds was first envisioned in 2002, when Philippe Reynert, the director of the newly founded Walloon film fund, Wallimages, was faced with the task of preparing an audiovisual focus for a meeting of EU culture ministers in Mons. He was surprised to find that, while there are many dozens of regional organizations in Europe, and they have similar terms, tasks and goals, there's hardly any contact between them. For that reason the fact is hardly surprising that, despite talk of a "Europe of regions" in Brussels, the EU Commission was formerly in contact with solely the national organizations, which belong to the EFAD network (European Film Agency Directors).
In Lecce, where plans had been made to establish a regional fund, the idea of interregional cooperation was taken up immediately by the Rotterdam Fonds voor de Film, the MFG Baden-Württemberg and the Vienna Film Fund, and the European Coordination of Regional Investment Funds - Audiovisual group (ECRIF - AV) was born. In April 2003 a significant step was made when this initiative received funding from the INTERREG IIIC program.
The ECRIF - AV's five members then defined their common goals: the coordination of subsidy guidelines for the purpose of simplifying interregional cooperation in Europe, establishment of best-practice models, and the development of new regional subsidy initiatives.
At ECRIF - AV's invitation, 27 regional subsidy organizations from around Europe met in Mons for the first time in February 2004 to exchange ideas among themselves and with representatives of the EU Commission and Parliament, and subsidy organizations from around Europe. Discussions were conducted concerning issues and problems such as the separation of and differences between film funds and commissions, contradictory national and regional subsidy guidelines, and regional effects. ECRIF - AV gave birth to Cine Regio.
In March 2005 Vienna was the venue of the first meeting between Cine Regio members from Belgium, France, Spain, Denmark, Sweden and Finland, and representatives of the film industry and subsidy organizations from Slovenia, the Czech Republic, Hungary and Poland. For many of those present, this was the first contact ever between West and East, North and South.
In May 2005 15 members from 11 different countries came together at Cine Regio's first general assembly, and Philippe Reynert was voted chairman.
In November 2005, during a visit of the Walloon minister of economics in Sweden, an offer coordinated from the very beginning by the Wallimage office in Mons was made to Cine Regio: establishment of an office in Göteborg which would be financed in part by the region of Västra Götaland. On March 1, 2006 the office of the new secretary general, Charlotte Appelgren, began operations in Göteborg.
In April 2006 Cine Regio joined the IFTC (International Council for Film Television and Audiovisual Communication), which belongs to UNESCO.
In May 2006 the second general assembly in Cannes elected Bengt Toll, the director of Film I Väst in Trollhättan, Sweden, the new chairman.
The Managing Committee consists of Angela Bosch Rius (Catalan Films & TV, ICIC, Spain), Manfred Schmidt (Mitteldeutsche Medienförderung, Germany), Søren Poulsen (The West Danish Film Fund), Philippe Reynert (Wallimage, Belgium) and Vincent Leclercq (CRRAV, France).
The general assembly held in Trollhättan in August 2006 was made necessary by rapid growth, and 32 members from 14 countries attended.
