A focus on sustainability training and high-profile events at major festivals including Berlin and Cannes were among the highlights of a busy 2024 for the European Film Commissions Network (EUFCN).
Established in 2007 to be the gateway to Europe for filmmakers across the world, the non-profit association represents over 100 European film commissions in over 30 countries and supports and promotes the continent’s film industry and culture.
EUFCN co-presidents Carlota Guerrero, of the Catalunya Film Commission, and Adrian A. Mitchell, of the Oslo Film Commission, believe Europe’s dynamic locations vividly inform the stories that use Europe as their canvas.
“Story-telling and filmmaking are essential to European culture,” says Guerrero. “Every corner of the continent has a deeply rooted film industry, with talented and crafted professionals that contribute to the making of an extremely rich audio-visual production sector.
“The people and the craft that form European culture add to a vast and diverse offer in landscapes, from an arctic climate in the north, arid desert landscapes, coastal planes, rural farmlands or historical and modern sites and cities, to far-out fantasy locations that serve as inspirational backdrops and add strong character to the stories on screen. This gives the storytellers a vast selection of tools and skillsets to develop and create universal stories, all within a relatively short distance.”
Last year began with a bang for the EUFCN during the Berlin International Film Festival in February with a brace of events.
EUFCN hosted FrameFusion: A Commissioner & Producer Rendez-vous in Berlin, with the European Producers Club (EPC). Following the EUFN General Assembly, the networking event brought together 10 EPC producers to present projects to EUFCN film commissioners and discuss making films in Europe.
Berlin and the European Film Market were also the host of the seventh edition of the EUFCN Location Award, presented to the best European location in the film and TV industry, organised by EUFCN.
The award ceremony welcomed all five award finalist film commissioners, who presented their locations and shared valuable anecdotes and experiences.
Inis Mór, the largest of Ireland’s Aran Islands, emerged the winner with Michael Byrne, inward production and sustainability executive from Screen Ireland, on hand in Berlin to accept the prize.
The island on the west coast of Ireland was a key location for filming Martin McDonagh’s The Banshees Of Inisherin.
The winner of the EUFCN Location Award was determined by an online public vote.The finalists included three from Norway: Helsetkopen for Mission: Impossible — Dead Reckoning Part One; Jotunheimen for Troll; and Romsdalen Gondola for Succession.
Hotel Parque do Rio in Portugal for Bad Living was also a finalist.
At the Marché du Film - Cannes Film Festival in May 2024, EUFCN kickstarted the Producers’ Network by hosting a brunch designed to connect Producers Network’s attendees with EUFCN film commissions, showcasing Europe’s diverse opportunities for future projects.
The EUFCN also organised a panel entitled ‘Film Commissions, Beyond Locations’, in collaboration with the Film Commission Zurich, the Ticino Film Commission, the Valais Film Commission and Swiss Films, exploring strategies for making a country a renowned destination for co-productions, beyond locations work.
Later in the year, the EUFCN participated as a partner in the fourth edition of the Shooting Locations Marketplace in Valladolid, Spain, moderating a roundtable conversation called ‘They did not pick me, why?’ Speakers discussed both successful and unsuccessful stories of why a territory was not selected to host a production.
EUFCN also enjoyed a strong presence at Agora, the industry market of the 65th Thessaloniki International Film Festival. It partnered on a panel organised by the Region of Central Macedonia (Greece) & Film Office – Central Macedonia, with the Hellenic Film Commission/Hellenic Film & Audiovisual Center – Creative Greece.
Entitled ‘Meet the Film Commissions: By your side before and after production from the North to the South of Europe’, the participants were film commissioners from Italy, Norway and Greece who discussed the role of film commissions play in the growth of the European film industry.
In November, EUFCN organised an online training course, in collaboration with Green Film and Italy’s Trentino Film Commission, designed exclusively for EUFCN members, providing them with practical tools for integrating sustainability into their practices.
The year ended on a high as EUFCN hosted an ‘In Brief’ session with the theme What’s Next? at industry show Focus 2024 in London. The session “Virtual Horizons: Redefining Locations and Creativity with AI” dived into tech advancements and production ideas which will dictate the next decade of visual storytelling. and was presented by the EUFCN and the Film Commission Hamburg Schleswig-Holstein (MOIN), with director and writer Julia Keller as speaker.
The year ahead
The EUFCN has tweaked the EUFCN Location Awards for its eighth edition to be presented during the EFM in February. Five locations, selected by the Location Awards 2024 jury, are in the running for two distinct awards: The EUFCN Location Award 2024, the winner chosen by the jury, and the EUFCN Audience Location Award 2024, selected again by the public through online voting.
The 2024 finalists are: Frøya for Billionaire Island – Midgard Film Commission Norway; Mdina for Napoleon – Malta Film Commission; Schönbrunn Palace for The Regime – Vienna Film Commission, Austria; Staatsoper Stuttgart for Cranko – Film Commission Region Stuttgart; in Germany’ and Tajogaite Volcano for La hojarasca – Canary Islands Film in Spain.
The jury is comprised of: US-based Tammy Glover, SVP production, Sony Pictures Television; UK production designer Caroline Greville- Morris; Benjamin Hendriks, a supervising location manager from the Netherlands, EJ Richards, a supervising location manager from the UK, and Sabine Schulmeyer, a supervising location manager from Germany.
Guerrero and Mitchell believe the finalists demonstrate the degree to which Europe has the resource and the skills to maintain its position as the one of the world’s leading locations and production hub.
“Initiatives such as EUFCN’s Location Award are one of the tools to ‘spread the word’ about the craft and care that film commissions and film office professionals, together with their respective local administrations, put into the making of film and TV productions,” Guerrero explains. ”The award showcases the quality and diversity of European locations and what the film industry can achieve.”
“We believe that positive development of the local industry, increased experience and further professionalism in the handling of screen production, spreads word about Europe’s capabilities across borders and teams,” adds Mitchell. “Keeping pace and a steady course with a focus on developing services and opportunities for the European film offices, creating opportunities for both facilitators and creators, makes for great results. The pictures say it all: The stories will keep rolling out and they will travel well.”
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