Factsheet MEDIA success stories
Saul Fia (Son of Saul, 2015) directed by László Nemes (HU) Oscar for Best Foreign Language Film Grand Prix at Cannes Film Festival Support: € 697,585 for its distribution across Europe Son of Saul is a small-budget film – €1.5 million. MEDIA decided to back the project and contributed to distributed it in 24 countries across Europe – a record on its own.
La Grande Bellezza (The Great Beauty, 2013) directed by Paolo Sorrentino (IT)
Oscar and Golden Globe for Best Foreign Language Film
Support: € 491,531 for its development and its distribution across Europe With La Grande Bellezza, Paolo Sorrentino gained international acclaim as a European director who could encapsulate the human dimension of his characters in a perfect shot. Youth (also funded by MEDIA) continued along the same path. In 2016, Sorrentino made a successful foray into television, with The Young Pope which he considers to be a 10 hour-long movie
Ida (2013) directed by Pawel Pawlikowski (PL) Oscar for Best Foreign Language Film Lux Prize Support: € 646,282 for its development and its distribution across Europe MEDIA provided seed money for the development of Ida. It also helped foreign distributors to show the film abroad through distribution schemes: Memento Films in France received €29,000 to show Ida to French audiences. France had the highest proportion of admissions for the film across Europe, with 484,000 viewers, one third of its total admissions.
Tabu (2012) directed by Miguel Gomes (PT)
18 prizes and 40 nominations
Support: € 192,800 for its development and its distribution across Europe
Tabu, by Portugese director Miguel Gomes, was developed with the support of MEDIA. It is among the films which have received the highest number of awards in Portuguese film history (including two prizes at the Berlinale 2012). MEDIA helped to make this film the most distributed Portuguese audiovisual work with more than 500,000 spectators in cinemas across the world.
Intouchables (Untouchable, 2011) directed by Olivier Nakache and Eric Toledano (FR)
16 prizes, 32 nominations
Support: € 305,304 for its distribution across Europe Untouchable is the French film which has garnered the most admissions in other EU countries over the past 10 years. It was particularly popular in Germany, with over 9.5 million admissions. The King’s speech (2010) directed by Tom Hooper (UK) 101 prizes and 190 nominations, 4 Oscar (best movie, leading actor, directing and screenplay)
Support: € 1,000,717 for its distribution across Europe The King’s Speech was the most successful UK film in other European countries of the past 10 years. Although it was shot in English and had strong publicity across the Atlantic - boosted by 12 Oscar nominations – The King’s Speech was seen by more cinema goers in the EU than in the US. MEDIA supported the distribution in Austria, Belgium, France, Hungary, the Netherlands, Norway, Poland and Portugal.
4 luni, 3 sãptãmâni si 2 zile (4 months, 3 weeks, 2 days, 2007) directed by Cristian Mungiu (RO) 37 prizes and 54 nominations Palme d’Or at Cannes Film Festival Support: € 601,661 for its distribution across Europe This film brought Romanian cinema into the spotlight in 2007, when it won the Palme d’Or. MEDIA investment helped this to be distributed in 23 European countries. The total MEDIA grants - € 600,000 – were equivalent to the production budget of the film. 4 months, 3 weeks, 2 days is considered as a springboard for Romanian film professionals: less than 10 years later, at the 2016 Cannes Film Festival, 5 Romanian films took part in the competition, including 2 in the main selection. Cristian Mungiu won the Best Director award for the MEDIA-supported film Bacalaureat.
Volver (2006) directed by Pedro Almodóvar (ES) Best Actress (shared by the six main actresses) and Best Screenplay at Cannes Film Festival Support: € 2,362,049 for its distribution across Europe MEDIA funded Volver with more than € 2 million for distribution in Europe. According to Box Office Mojo, the film has grossed € 80 million worldwide, with only 15% coming from domestic total gross. Pedro Almodóvar is a leading light of the cinema industry, in Europe and around the world, together with other creators who have also received MEDIA financing, including Ken Loach, the Dardenne Brothers or Lars Von Trier.
Good bye Lenin! (2003) directed by Dennis Gansel (DE)
32 prizes and 17 nominations
Support: € 745,909 for its development and its distribution across Europe Good Bye Lenin! left a lasting impression on audiences, bearing witness to the experience of many Europeans after the fall of the Berlin wall. It was the first German film to scoop the European Film Academy’s Best European Film Award, and also won Best European film in other national film compeitions, including France, Spain and Germany
Breaking the waves (1996) directed by Lars Von Trier (DK) 42 prizes and 25 nominations Grand Prix at Cannes Film Festival Support: € 626,894 for its distribution across Europe Apart from the Danish Film Institute there are not so many sources of development funding in Denmark. Over the years, the Danish film company Zentropa has received development funding from MEDIA which has helped them to develop films at international level. Breaking the Waves was Zentropa’s first hit, setting the path for many more internationally-acclaimed works such as The Hunt, Melancholia, Dancer in the Dark, or In a Better World.