Europa International sales agent organisation aims to “make sure our voice is heard in Brussels”

The heads of the new Europa International organisation unveiled their objectives on Tuesday (May 17) in Cannes.

The group of European sales agents now includes representatives from 24 companies across eight nations. The Match Factory’s Michael Weber is president with Frederik Stege of TrustNordisk, Thorsten Schumacher of HanWay and Daniela Elstner of Doc & Film acting as vice-presdents. Nelleke Driessen of Fortissimo, François Yon of Films Distribution and Sascha Wieser of EastWest Filmdistribution act as deputies.

The Brussels-based Europa said the group’s intention is to pool their strengths by an exchange of ideas and knowledge which will help to develop their business further.

Yon told reporters the group’s first objective is to “make sure our voice is heard in Brussels”. He pointed out that the current MEDIA programme includes only Euros 1.5m to be spread over 35 companies and the idea is to increase that for the next go-around in 2014.

A training program will also be launched while special attention will be paid to the implications of digital and how to handle the transition. In addition, educating members on the rapidly-emerging VOD sector will be a priority.