"Alongside other measures such as funding of public broadcasting services, regulation of relations between broadcasters and producers and the implementation of tax incentive schemes, direct funding is one of the most traditional and important ways in which public authorities support the film and audiovisual industry. Virtually all European States, as well as territorial communities, regions, some municipalities, the European institutions (Council of Europe, European Community) and various intergovernmental organisations have set up direct aid mechanisms that provide around EUR 1,3 billion of funding for the industry each year. The European Audiovisual Observatory's KORDA database, an important source of information for this report, lists more than 170 support bodies and around 600 different aid programmes. Backed up with facts and figures, this study illustrates the enormous diversity of these mechanisms: diversity in terms of legal foundations, the tasks fulfilled by national support bodies, funding, methods of intervention and, in particular, the sums involved. Despite this variety, which results from the history and political and administrative structure of each European state, the support bodies are keen to find common conceptual ground for their policies, based on the notion that film and audiovisual creativity cannot be governed solely by the rules of the market and that funding is justified by the need for cultural diversity. The European Commission does not question this principle, although it does have to ensure that funding does not disrupt the correct functioning of the common market. The report describes how this whole issue has evolved since 1963 up to the recent European Commission Communication of 16 March 2004. The report covers recent events up to spring 2004: reform of Eurimages, new laws in Germany, Italy, Hungary, draft laws in Poland and Portugal, etc. Finally, Olivier Debande, an expert at the European Investment Bank, analyses the role of private investors and intervention by the banking sector in three countries using distinct models (USA, United Kingdom, France)." (Back cover)