Cultural diversity or return in investment? Disentangling the film co-production fund Eurimages

Discussions about how to foster cultural diversity have taken hold in the political, economic and academic realm, especially in Europe. The thesis critically analyzes the most important international documents for the preservation of cultural diversity; thus, it enunciates its crucial dimensions, retrieved from the empirical studies on the topic. Further, the thesis summarizes the discussions on free trade and protectionisms, and finally offers an overview of the European audiovisual situation, with particular attention to the Eurimages fund. The fund - established by the Council of Europe (CoE) in 1989 - aims to increase international film co-productions to enable the European audiovisual sector to become more competitive as well as preserve film cultural diversity. The research investigates the relationship between the allocation of the Eurimages fund and the economic, political and cultural characteristics of the CoE Member States during the period from 2014-2019; and whether, in turn, the fund has contributed to the preservation of the cultural diversity of the Member States. The results of the Weight Least Squares indicate that the economic, political and cultural characteristics of CoE Member States illustrate a significant correlation with the way Eurimages financed the applications during that period. In particular, language affinity, greater economic and political power showcase a positive relationship with the Eurimages awards. In this respect, the fund seems to fail to preserve Members' cultural diversity supplied in terms of balance, regarding the nationality of the major producing country and official language of the film.