Eurimages executive director Susan Newman-Baudais is to step down later this year, and the organisation has begun recruiting for her successor.
Newman-Baudais took on the role at Eurimages in 2022, having first joined the Council of Europe’s cultural film fund in 2012 as a project manager, and then working as head of its co-production programme.
She told Screen that her reason for leaving is “very simple – in September 2026 I will reach the end of my current mandate, but also the statutory retirement age of the Council of Europe.”
To ensure a smooth transition, the recruitment process for her successor has been launched. A shortlist of candidates will be interviewed by the Eurimages board at its plenary meeting in late June, with the final appointment made by the Secretary General of the Council of Europe, Alain Berset.
The incoming executive director will lead a 29-person international team running the fund from its offices in Strasbourg.
Eurimages has an annual budget of around €27.5m. Its main remit is to support film co-productions via a mix of grants and loans. It also has support schemes for exhibition, film marketing and audience development, and the promotion of co-production.
The fund has supported more than 2,600 international co-productions since launching in 1989. It supported six films playing in competition at this month’s Berlinale: Anke Blonde’s Dust, Markus Schleinzer’s Rose, Hanna Bergholm’s Nightborn, Emin Alper’s Salvation, Genevieve Dulude-De Celles’ Nina Roza and Ilker Catak’s Yellow Letters.
“Filling this role successfully requires a genuine commitment to fostering the independent film and audiovisual production sector across the 40 Eurimages member states, covering most of Europe and Canada, and a capacity to translate the strategy developed by the fund’s board of management into concrete actions,” said Newman-Baudais.
She added: “Communicating effectively, navigating a new AI-inflected production sector and ensuring that the fund’s resources are used in the most cost-effective and impactful way will be key.”
Period of change
Newman-Baudais’ four-and-a-half-year mandate has been a period of change at Eurimages, starting with a major pivot in the way in which the fund selects projects for support. Key changes included entrusting independent external experts from the film industry, rather than national representatives, to decide on which films to support.
Additionally, it introduced measures to boost gender equality in funding support, while backing filmmakers from Ukraine has also been a “constant and vital priority” since February 2022.
This year will see the third edition of the Eurimages’ Film Marketing and Audience Development support programme, designed to boost early-stage marketing of supported co-productions.
“The programme responds concretely to current concerns that quality projects still struggle to find their audience,” said Newman-Baudais.
She added that StepUp, a free online learning platform for green film production developed by French non-profit Ecoprod and launched last year, “is also showing great promise.”
Though not part of Eurimages, the Council of Europe’s pilot programme for series co-productions also falls under the responsibility of the executive director of Eurimages. The programme has been running since 2023, injecting around €9.4m so far into the development and co-production of series.
The Council of Europe’s Convention on the Co-production of Audiovisual Works in the form of Series, designed to boost independent series co-productions, is also set to enter into force this year.
Newman-Baudais said she doesn’t yet have any firm plans when she steps down in September.
“I would like to remain involved in the film industry, though hopefully at a more relaxed pace. Above all, I hope to be able to use my experience to benefit the industry, perhaps by assisting in what I see as an urgent reflection on new metrics to measure the societal benefits delivered by the original, diverse and thought-provoking films supported by public funding, and the positive contribution these works can make to upholding the values underlying democracy.”
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