“The media market in Luxembourg is surprisingly rich compared to its size and the number of inhabitants. The country exercises an important role in the management of international media concessions through RTL Group. The print sector includes five daily newspapers, one free daily newspaper, 23 magazines, as well as weekly and monthly newspapers. The TV market is dominated by RTL and there are six TV stations (four local and two national), but residents also have access to channels from the neighbouring countries. RTL is the biggest broadcaster and has a “public service mission”, but is not a “public service medium”. There are about seven private radio stations with national coverage and only one radio broadcaster (Radio 100,7) that is officially recognized as a public service medium (PSM). Internet coverage is very good across the country.”[1]
A detailed report about the specificities of the media in Luxembourg has been published by information and Press service of the Luxembourg government[2]. In this context, and unlike in other countries, it should be noticed that, in Luxembourg, matters relating to media and communication are of the competence of the ministry of State, not the ministry of Culture.
Competence between those two ministries is nevertheless shared in the area of film production through the Film Fund/Fonds national de soutien à la production audiovisuelle. The Grand Duchy has developed a rich film production industry that has received recognition from the international audiovisual industry through prizes and awards obtained at international festivals in recent years. “Professionalisation of the job has expanded the possibilities of co-production with other countries. As a result, the number of productions has increased considerably in the Grand Duchy, not only because of a favourable legal framework, but also because of the excellent technical infrastructures and the expanding skills of the local film production industry. The animated films sector has experienced a similar success the film production sector. Luxembourgish co-productions winning several prestigious international awards illustrates the distance the animation sector has covered in the Grand Duchy. There are half a dozen animation studios active in the Grand Duchy. They either develop their own productions or co-productions or hire out their services to foreign productions.”[3]
Different forms of support are provided by structures such as the Filmfund, the Centre national de l’audiovisuel (who also produces films itself), the Filmakademie, professional organisations (LARS/Association of Luxembourgish Directors and Screenwriters, ALTA/Association of Luxembourgish Technicians, Actors.lu, ULPA/Association of Luxembourgish Producers, FMAIV/Federation of Animation and Virtual Imagery Professionals), as well as the ministry of Culture.
Together with the Filmfund, the Filmakademie also awards biannually the Lëtzebuerger Filmpräis, Luxembourg film prizes in different categories.
Luxembourg City Film Festival is the country’s main film festival, whereas CinEast proposed each year a festival with films from Central and Eastern Europe.
Only few structures are active in the field of multimedia, artificial intelligence, digital and video arts, Casino Luxembourg – Forum d’art contemporain having become an important platform. Also Rotondes has established itself in that domain, hosting the Virtual Reality Pavilion / VR Day and the Multiplica Festival, whereas the Filmfund is very engaged in the promotion of virtual reality projects. Indeed, “in the first half of the 2010s, the Film Fund received increasing numbers of funding applications from producers mentioning a new narrative medium: virtual reality headsets and all the associated creative technologies (3D modelling and animation software, videogame engines, coding languages, 3D sound design and even new camera systems).”[4] Finally, it is noteworthy that the programme of Esch2022, European Capital of Culture puts a lot of emphasis on digital arts, notably to make them accessible to a larger public.
[1] Raphaël Kies, Kim Nommesch, Céline Schall (2016) Media Pluralism Monitor 2016 Monitoring Risks for Media Pluralism in the EU and Beyond – Country report: Luxembourg, Centre for Media Pluralism and Media Freedom, p.2, available at: https://cmpf.eui.eu/media-pluralism-monitor/mpm-2016-results/luxembourg/#_ftn4; Accessed 17 November 2021.
[2] Information and Press service of the Luxembourg government (2013) About… the Media in Luxembourg, available at: https://luxembourg.public.lu/dam-assets/publications/a-propos-des-medias-au-luxembourg/a-propos-des-medias-au-luxembourg-en.pdf; Accessed 18 November 2021.
[3] https://luxembourg.public.lu/en/invest/key-sectors/audiovisual-production.html; Accessed 17 November 2021.
[4] Yves Conrardy (2021) Panorama of Digital and Multimedia Arts in Luxembourg, https://www.kulturlx.lu/en/panorama-category/digital-and-multimedia-arts/; Accessed 17 November 2021.
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