(25 February 2013) – European Commissioner Androulla Vassiliou has paid tribute to the makers of EU-backed films Amour and Searching for Sugar Man after their success at last night’s 85th Academy Awards in Hollywood.
Austrian director Michael Haneke scooped the Oscar for Best Foreign Language Film with Amour, a moving portrayal of an elderly couple as they approach the end of their lives.
Malik Bendjelloul and Simon Chinn’s Searching for Sugar Man, the true story of rock guitarist Sixto Rodríguez, who vanished into obscurity in the mid-70s only to be re-rediscovered working as a labourer, won Best Documentary Feature.
The two winners were among six nominated films supported by the MEDIA programme for cinema, which have received € 2 million in EU funding to date. The MEDIA programme aims to boost diversity and competitiveness in the European audiovisual sector through funding for film development, promotion and the distribution of European films outside their country of origin. MEDIA will form part of the new Creative Europe programme from 2014.