Further supporting its ongoing campaign to promote European films, Europa Cinemas will return once again to this year’s Berlinale/Berlin Film Festival, awarding its Label prize to the best European film in the Panorama section (February 7 to 17).

This marks the fourth year that the Europa Cinemas Label will be awarded at Berlin, and complements the Labels awarded at the Giornate degli Autori section in Venice, the Quinzaine des Réalisateurs in Cannes and Karlovy Vary.

A jury of four Europa Cinemas exhibitors will award the Label at Berlin, with the winning film receiving the invaluable support of extended theatrical exposure and additional promotion from the Europa Cinemas network.

The Europa Cinemas Label in Berlin consists of: Robert Kenny (Operations Manager, Curzon Cinemas/UK); Marko Röhr (Exhibitor, Bio Rex Helsinki, Bio Rex Kajaani/Finland); Wolfgang Steininger (Exhibitor, Moviemento and City Kino, Linz/Austria) and Barbara Suhren (Exhibitor, Kino am Oranienplatz, Berlin/Germany).

Founded in 1992, the Europa Cinemas network now consists of a remarkable 1703 screens in 686 cinemas in 393 cities in 44 countries. Europa Cinemas’ aim is to support the programming and visibility of European films outside their country of origin, and to foster initiatives aimed at encouraging younger audiences to develop their interest in European films and cultural diversity.

Previous winners of the Europa Cinemas Label are:

Cannes/Directors’ Fortnight
2003: The Mother (Roger Michell, UK)
Kitchen Stories (Bent Hamer, Norway/Sweden)
2004: In the Battlefields (Danielle Arbid, France/Belgium/Lebanon)
2005: La Moustache (Emmanuel Carrère, France)
2006 : 12 :08 East of Bucharest/A Fost sau n-a fost ? (Corneliu Porumboiu, Rumania)
2007: Control (Anton Corbijn, UK)

Berlin/Panorama
2005: Live and Become (Radu Mihaileanu, France/Belgium/Israel)
Crustacés et Coquillages (Olivier Ducastel, Jacques Martineau, France)
2006 : Tough Enough/Knallhart (Detlev Buck, Germany)
2007: El Camino de los Ingleses/Summer Rain (Antonio Banderas, Spain)

Venice/Venice Days
2004: Darwin’s Nightmare (Hubert Sauper, Austria/France/Belgium)
2005: Le Petit Lieutenant (Xavier Beauvois, France)
2006: Azul Oscuro Casi Negro /Dark Blue Almost Black (Daniel Sánchez Arévalo, Spain)
2007: Tricks/Sztuczki (Andrzej Jakimowski, Poland)

Karlovy Vary (Main Competition and East of the West section)
2006: Frozen City (Aku Louhimies, Finland)
2007: The Class (Ilmar Raag, Estonia)