More than 4,500 filmmakers and actors urge the European Union not to abandon cinema in its new cultural program

Filmmakers and actors of the stature of Joachim Trier, Ruben Östlund, Yorgos Lanthimos, Francis Ford Coppola, Juliette Binoche, Sandra Hüller, and Stellan Skarsgård are leading an open letter that has already gathered more than 4,500 signatures, calling on European institutions to ensure that cinema retains a central place in the European Union’s new cultural funding framework.

The letter, titled Cinema needs Europe, Europe needs cinema, defends the legacy of the Creative Europe Media program, which has been operating since 1991 with the goal of strengthening the continent’s cultural diversity and helping European films cross national borders. “Without Media, we would all be a little less European,” the text states.

The concern driving the letter is specific: beginning in 2028, Creative Europe will be replaced by AgoraEU, a larger-budget program with a much broader scope that will also include news media and the video game industry. In this new scenario, the film industry fears that funding specifically allocated to cinema and television could be diluted, with no guarantee of a minimum allocation.

The signatories also include Costa-Gavras, Rodrigo Sorogoyen, Agnieszka Holland, Paweł Pawlikowski, Michel Hazanavicius, Jean-Pierre Dardenne and Luc Dardenne, Margarethe von Trotta, Lukas Dhont, Vicky Krieps, Clémence Poésy, Agnès Jaoui, and Nadav Lapid, among many others.

The letter does not shy away from the numbers. It points out that the Media program accounts for just 0.2% of the European Union’s total budget, while the Common Agricultural Policy absorbs 32%. With that modest but strategic share, the program has financed for decades a body of cinema that the text describes as a foundational part of European identity: “Just as the very idea of Europe is a unique project, the idea behind the Media program is to sustain diverse European voices within a common home.” The letter cites recent successes at the Academy Awards, including Flow by Gints Zilbalodis, Sentimental Value, and the documentary Mr Nobody Against Putin by David Borenstein and Pavel Talankin.

The statement also warns about the structural pressures facing the sector: most films and series consumed in Europe are produced abroad, movie theater attendance has been declining for years, and artificial intelligence poses new challenges for audiovisual creation.

The letter was spearheaded by Europe’s leading film associations, including Europa International, Europa Distribution, European Producers Club, FERA, and FAME. It concludes with a direct appeal to the European Commission, the European Parliament, and member states: “We call on the institutions to guarantee the future and integrity of the vital and precious Media program and to strengthen its resources. There are no shared values, no democracy, and no European soft power without artistic creation.”

Political pressure is intensifying. The European Commission presented its proposal for AgoraEU in July 2025, and both the Parliament and the European Council are currently reviewing the text, with a parliamentary report expected later this month. Next week, during the Cannes Film Festival, attendees’ accreditation badges will bear the slogan “Europe needs cinema” as a visible sign of an industry on alert and unwilling to lose the support that has helped define it.