THE European Union's MEDIA Programme, which has been an important source of financial support for Irish filmmakers over the last several years, has announced a call for tenders for new intermediary organisations to administer its next five year programme, known as MEDIA II. The new organisations will manage a more streamlined programme, concentrating on four main areas: training, project development, distribution and management.

While already existing MEDIA organisations like the Dublin based Espace Video European (EVE) and the London based SCRIPT are expected to figure strongly in the tendering process, which closes on February 23rd, the shape (and location) of the new bodies could differ considerably from the previous set ups. Rather optimistically, MEDIA officials hope to be in a position to declare the successful tenders by April 1st.