UK independent exhibitioncompany City Screen and its directors Tony Jones and Lyn Goleby have beenhonoured with the first ever 'Entrepreneur of the Year' award by EuropaCinemas.

The award celebrates theirachievements in developing a platform for European film in the UK and waspresented to Jones at a ceremony in Paris by Claude Miller, President of EuropaCinemas as part of the 9th Annual Europa Cinemas conference.

Having developed a networkof 18 cinemas since start-up in 1989, the award represents "a real recognitionof our commitment to European cinema in a country largely dominated by Americanproductions. We don't cherry-pick top titles, we programme independent andforeign language film as a priority and work to develop strong, year-roundaudiences for them, in regional sites as well as in London" according to Jones.

Eight City Screen cinemas(Arts Picturehouse, Cambridge; Duke of York's Picturehouse, Brighton;Picturehouse at FACT, Liverpool; The Belmont, Aberdeen; The Cameo; Edinburgh;The Gate, Notting Hill; and The Phoenix Picturehouse, Oxford) are currentlypart of the Europa Cinemas network, though conditions for entry are tough.

35% of the films programmedmust be of European origin, and for grant aid to be received there are strictcaps on the number of homegrown productions that can be included in this count.

Lyn credits City Screen'sunique customer offer with its success in generating support for film beyondthe mainstream: "we are very different to the multiplexes in the way we create cinemaspaces that are attractive in themselves, places to enjoy spending time. Itsvery much about a whole experience in which everything from the design of thecoffee cups to the high standards of film presentation, on which we prideourselves, is attractive and of the very best."

Claude Miller presented two other Europa Cinemas Awards during the conference:
- Programming Award: Muranow (2 screens) in Warsaw, run by Roman Gutek,
- Young Audiences Award: MovieZone, with 10 cinemas in the Netherlands