05-10-2020

Poland Grants 88 m EUR for Construction of New European Film Centre CAMERIMAGE

By
    EnergaCAMERIMAGE 2019 EnergaCAMERIMAGE 2019 photo by Krzysztof Wesołowski

    TORUN: The Polish government has agreed to grant 88 m EUR / 400 m PLN for the construction of the new European Film Centre CAMERIMAGE in Toruń.

    The new cultural institution will be established in Toruń's Jordanki, which will be connected to the organisation of the Energa CAMERIMAGE International Film Festival. The facility, to be finished by 2025, will include a festival centre with an entertainment and projection room for 1,200 -1,500 viewers, foyer, conference rooms, press service office, TV studio enabling broadcasting of events, as well as seminar and projection rooms, film production studio, exhibition and educational spaces, dressing rooms, restaurant space and offices for cultural institutions.

    There has been talk of the establishment of the European Film Center Camerimage since the decision to move the Energa Camerimage festival to Toruń. Its organisers made no secret of the fact that the existing infrastructure does not fully meet the needs of this international event. The new institution is not to be limited to preparing the festival, but is to promote moving pictures throughout the year.

    The City of Toruń included 4.4 m EUR / 200 m PLN for this project as part of the Multiannual Financial Forecast for Toruń for 2020-2050. The 88 m EUR / 400 m PLN from the Polish government was approved on 30 September 2020. In 2021 the institution will receive 7.1 m EUR / 32 m PLN from the state treasury.

    “The European Film Center Camerimage is 38,000 sqare metres of space intended for congress, festival, educational and scientific purposes,” said the Mayor of Toruń Michał Zaleski. “The years ahead of us are a time filled first with preparatory works, then with the implementation of investments. ECF Camerimage, also in the form of an object that will be built here, will complement the tissue of Toruń and will foster its development. The building of the institution will also complement the area devoted to culture and art, which already houses the Center for Contemporary Art and the Jordanki Cultural and Congress Centre. In five years and a few months, we will be able to enter the building of the Camerimage European Film Centre.”