The extra funding, aimed at "encouraging audiences in Europe and abroad to discover foreign films," will allow EU audiovisual professionals "to learn new skills and promote the industry" by boosting collaboration with colleagues based outside Europe, the Commission explained.
Among 40 projects selected to receive funding are joint training, reciprocal promotion and distribution schemes, as well as film screenings.
The projects, worth a total of €5m, will be funded under the EU's Media International programme, and represent "the start of intensified EU efforts" to bring diversity to screens worldwide and create new business opportunities in the audiovisual sector.
The budget increase for 2009 was approved by the European Parliament last December, and the 40 projects were chosen from 95 applications for funding under this year's Media International scheme.
EU Media Commissioner Viviane Reding said the €5m funding boost "demonstrates the EU's enhanced commitment to boosting Europe's audiovisual industries internationally".
Reding particularly thanked MEPs for "highlighting the importance of cross-border cooperation and cultural diversity for the film sector in Europe and in our partner countries" during the approval process.
Training funded from the extra cash will help professionals to deepen their understanding of "the operating conditions, legal frameworks and financing of audiovisual markets abroad," for example by organising workshops in West Africa.
At present, the EU supports the screening of European, Mediterranean, Asian and Latin American films via the 'Europa Cinemas' network of 342 cinemas in Europe and 183 elsewhere.
Ten new projects funded from the €5m aim to help European films gain access to international markets and provide funding to promote their distribution, like a new 'Producers Lab Toronto', which builds upon links already established in the context of the Toronto Film Festival.
The money will also be used to help increase the potential audience for foreign films, for example by providing traveling digital projectors to bring movies to cinema-deprived areas.
