Cinema is an important and enjoyable medium for highlighting the diversity and similarities of global cultures. A festival of European films was organised in Tokyo this May on the occasion of the inaugural EU-Japan Friendship Week, a series of events aimed at brin-ging the peoples of Europe and Japan closer together. The Osaka European Film Festival has been bringing Europeans and Japanese together through the medium of film for eight years now. The festival remains one of the highlights of the EU-Japan Cultural Calendar as well as one of the premier film festivals in the Kansai region and it is my great pleasure to address you in this commemorative catalogue.

2001 has been a very important year for European cinema. At this year’s Cannes Film Festival, Viviane Reding, the European Commissioner for Education and Culture announced an injection of 1 billion euro into the EU’s film and audiovisual industry to increase its competitiveness in a globalised economy and to foster creativity in the cinematographic and televisual arts. Announcing the initiative, which has been co-funded by the European Investment Bank, Mrs. Reding said, "I cannot accept the fact that American films account for 75% of box-office takings in Europe while the EU produces more films than the Uni-ted States. I will not sit back and watch our young artistic talents and audiovisual entrepreneurs disappear across the Atlantic."

The Cannes film festival itself proved that the European Film industry remains vibrant. This year’s Grand Prix was won by Michael Haneke’s La Pianiste (The Piano Teacher), which also won awards for best actor and actress. The film was one of many at Cannes to receive funding from the European Commission’s Media II programme. With a budget of 310 million euro, Media II helped fund over 1,500 films including many of those that have been presented at the Osaka European Film Festival this year and in the past five years. It has also funded a number of films which have proved particularly popular with Japanese audiences such as Elizabeth, Dancer in the Dark and All about my Mother. The Media Plus Programme forms a key element of the funds launched in May this year. With a budget of 400 million euro, the programme will build on the success of Media II by promoting the training of audiovisual professionals as well as supporting development, distribution and promotion of European cinematographic and audiovisual works.

2001 also marks an important year for the EU-Japan relationship. At an EU-Japan Summit to take place later this year, leaders from both sides will send a strong signal for the deve-lopment of political, economic and cultural co-operation between the EU, its Member States and Japan. An Action Plan will be formally endorsed at the Summit which will pave the way for a new partnership between our two societies.

I wish the Eighth Osaka European Film Festival every success and hope that a love of cinema will continue to serve as a common bond between the EU and Japan. Enjoy the films.