Cartoon Connection is one of 18 projects involving partners from Canada, Latin America, India, China, South Korea, Japan, Morocco, Bosnia, Turkey and Georgia, which have been provided with almost $2.88m (Euros 2m) by the EU to develop closer cooperation between European and third country film professionals.

11 of the selected projects deal with continuous training. They include Primexchange, a workshop on financing and marketing audiovisual works with a special focus on digital technologies for authors and producers from India and Europe, and Pygmalion International providing development, financing and marketing workshops with partners in India, Lebanon and Indonesia.

In addition, six projects for the promotion of audiovisual works, focussing on boosting coproduction, are being funded. For example, Bulgaria's Art Fest has partnered with Bosnia's Obala Art Center to organise platforms for co-production, distribution and financing. And the European Producers Club will stage co-production workshops in China and India and invite local producers to attend two major forums in Europe.

MEDIA International will also support the first international network of cinemas, coordinated by Europa Cinemas, including 230 cinemas in Europe and 148 from the rest of the world.

MEDIA International will run for up to three years and is designed to pave the way for a broader MEDIA MUNDUS programme from 2011.

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