Seven EU-funded films to compete for 13 Oscar Awards

British director Danny Boyle attends a news conference for his new film "Slumdog Millionaire" in New Delhi January 21, 2009.

Seven films funded by the European Union (EU)'s MEDIA film support program are set to compete in 13 categories at this year's Oscar Awards ceremony to be held next Sunday, according to the European Commission on Thursday.

Among the films, "Slumdog Millionaire" (UK/U.S.) will compete in 9 categories including the Best Film and Best Director, and "Der Baader Meinhof Komplex" (Germany), "Entre les murs "("The Class") (France) , and "Waltz with Bashir" (Israel/Germany/France) will fight for the Best Foreign language Film prize. "Entre les murs " won the Palme d'Or at the 2008 Cannes film festival.

Meanwhile, "Man on Wire" (UK/U.S.) is nominated in the Best Documentary Feature category, "The Duchess" (Britain/France/Italy)in the Art Direction/ Costume Design category, and "Happy Go Lucky" (Britain) in the Best Original Screenplay category.

In 2008, two MEDIA-funded films brought home Oscars, with the Austrian-German co-production "The Counterfeiters" winning the Best Foreign Language Film award. In the last three years, MEDIA-funded films have won a total of eight Oscar awards.

"The diversity and riches of European film is well reflected in this year's Oscar nominations," said Viviane Reding, EU Media Commissioner. "I see this as a great pay off for the European Union's efforts to make European cinema more competitive by supporting the development of films made or co-produced in Europe, their distribution across borders, as well as the use of digital new technologies."

The MEDIA program provided significant financial support to these films figuring high on the nominations list of the Oscars ceremony. The total contribution from the MEDIA program for these films alone amounted to three million euros (3.9 million U.S. dollars) , with even more support likely to follow for distributing the film to cinemas.

The MEDIA program plays a crucial role in supporting Europe's audiovisual sector through the development and distribution of thousands of films as well as training activities, festivals and promotion projects throughout Europe, according to the European Commission.

Nine out of every ten feature films in Europe distributed outside their home country received MEDIA support every year, said the Commission.

The program's overall objectives are to strengthen the competitiveness of the European audiovisual sector by facilitating access to financing and promoting use of digital technologies, to reflect and respect Europe's cultural identity and heritage, and to increase the circulation of European audiovisual works inside and outside the EU. In 2008 the MEDIA program supported over 1,800projects with a total 107 million euros (139 million dollars).