TORONTO, September 11, 2026 — A coalition of 23 screen sector organizations from across the globe released a joint statement today at the Toronto International Film Festival, urging governments worldwide to support domestic production requirements and champion the diverse stories created by local independent production. The group of industry associations, representing more than 750,000 workers across Canada, Australia and Europe, cautioned that without domestic content rules,
Thousands of cinema professionals, including prominent directors, authors, actors and industry leaders from across Europe and beyond have come together around this simple but urgent message: Europe needs cinema. Cinema needs Europe. They have signed an Open Letter calling on the European Commission, the European Parliament and Member States to preserve and reinforce the MEDIA programme as a major instrument of support for European independent cinema. For more than 35 years,
We, representatives of the European film and audiovisual sector and the press sector, welcome the European Commission’s ambition to strengthen support for culture, audiovisual, media and democratic values under the future AgoraEU programme. However, we express strong concerns regarding the proposed grouping of the audiovisual and news within a single “MEDIA+” strand. Together, we wish to strongly underline that the film and audiovisual sector and the media and press sectors o
