FIAD Presence at the Cannes Film Festival : Strong Signals for Film Distribution from Cannes

The 78th Festival de Cannes once again proved a landmark moment for Europe’s film sector — and for FIAD, whose Secretariat actively participated in a series of high-level events, industry panels, and policy discussions. At the heart of this year’s agenda stood the FIAD 2025 General Assembly, a critical opportunity for members to take stock of the FIAD's successes in 2024 and define priorities for the year ahead.

Spotlight on Stability: Key Trends from FOCUS 2025

FIAD attended the launch of the European Audiovisual Observatory’s annual FOCUS report — one of the most authoritative global snapshots of film market trends. Gilles Fontaine, Martin Kanzler and Manuel Fioroni laid out the data: 4.8 billion cinema tickets sold worldwide in 2024, representing a 9% decline from 2023, but a new stabilised baseline for global cinema.

Europe outperformed the global average, reaching 75% of its 2019 pre-pandemic admissions levels — significantly ahead of the global figure of 68%. This resilience underlines the strength of Europe’s theatrical ecosystem and confirms the importance of theatrical distributors connecting diverse films to diverse audiences through strong promotion and marketing campaigns.  

Encouragingly, European national films have captured one-third of all admissions — the highest share in four years. Local stories and breakout successes continue to drive cultural and economic value across Europe’s screens.

A recording of the panel presentation is available at this link.

What Makes a European Film Successful?

FIAD was also present at the Observatory’s debate “Success made in Europe: What’s a successful European film?” The panel challenged the traditional box-office-only definition of success and called for a more nuanced view — one that includes cultural impact, international reach, and sustainable audience engagement.

Speakers emphasised that theatrical success remains the key predictor for downstream success, including VoD circulation. Distributors remain the most exposed yet decisive players in the film value chain, with P&A costs representing significant financial risk. FIAD welcomes the speakers’ calls for robust public support in distribution — not only as a cultural good, but as an economic multiplier. National authorities must look beyond support to production and take a holistic approach to film support.

Political Commitment to Film: Key Speeches from the Commission

A strong political message came from Commissioner Glenn Micallef (Intergenerational Fairness, Youth, Culture and Sport), who addressed the EFAD roundtable on the European model of cinema. He offered a clear message: distribution plays a vital role in sustaining cultural diversity, and the EU must go beyond Creative Europe to mainstream film support across all relevant policy areas. In a shifting global context, Commissioner Micallef pledged to keep Europe’s film sector strong and competitive.

That message was echoed by Giuseppe Abbamonte, Director at DG CONNECT, who intervened at a CNC-led panel on public financing. His speech provided a snapshot of the forthcoming review of the currenet Creative Europe Programme MEDIA Strand:  films receiving MEDIA support are shown on average in seven more countries than those without it — proving MEDIA’s strategic role in circulation and cross-border success. Co-productions, upskilling schemes, and strategic VoD distribution — all contribute to a vibrant and autonomous European film ecosystem. His final call was unequivocal: funding for Creative Europe must go up, not down.

FIAD General Assembly 2025

The centrepiece of Cannes for FIAD was its annual General Assembly, held on 19 May. FIAD members from across Europe gathered in person and online to reflect on the past year’s advocacy achievements, approve the 2024-2025 activity report, and adopt the forward-looking strategy for 2025.

The Assembly also endorsed the FIAD 2025 Action Plan, which sets a course for continued political engagement in Brussels on promoting theatrical distribution, resolutely defending the film-av sector’s exemption from the Geo-blocking Regulation, proactive support for the Creative Europe MEDIA programme, and renewed focus on anti-piracy enforcement, copyright protection, and market diversity.

FIAD Members were united in their support of the Secretariat and the ongoing services Europe Analytica provides to FIAD.