Further supporting its ongoing campaign to promote European films, Europa Cinemas will return once again to this year's Venice Film Festival, awarding its Label prize to the best European film in the Giornate degli Autori/Venice Days section (August 30 to September 8).

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

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

The Europa Cinemas Label ion Venice consists of: Jan de Clercq (Exhibitor at the Cinema Lumière in Bruges, Belgium); Antonio Llorens Sanchis (Exhibitor at the Cines Babel and Albatros in Valencia, Spain); Stefan Kitanov (Exhibitor at the Cinema House in Sofia, Bulgaria) and Thomas Bertacche (Exhibitor at the Cines Visionario and Centrale in Udine, Italy).

Founded in 1992, the Europa Cinemas network now consists of a remarkable 1689 screens in 690 cinemas in 403 cities in 55 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)

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