The European Film Academy is restructuring its board of directors to improve the regional and ethnic diversity of its management structure.
From 1989, each EFA Board of Directors Members will be selected from 15 different geographical or linguistic regions of Europe, each region containing different countries. In addition, a seat will be reserved for transnational ethnic representatives of European Sami or Roma. The seat will be filled by an elected member of the Sami ethnic group for the first term.
The remaining three board members, including the chair and two vice chairs, will not be elected based on region of origin.
Unanimously voted changes will be in the 1989 and upcoming EFA elections effective . European Film Academy members can nominate themselves as candidates for the region in which they live and work. Board members are elected by all European Film Academy members registered to vote.
The changes will take place in two phases: a six-week self-nomination period beginning in mid-August, and a six-week board election beginning in October. The new Board of Directors will be announced at the Academy General Assembly in early December and new members will take office in January. Current Board members elected last December will remain in office until the end of their terms at the end of 1989.
“These changes will create a more diverse and democratically representative board to serve the European Film Academy,” said EFA President Mike Downey. “This is just one of some structural changes we are making to the way the College operates to bring it in line with contemporary best practice, and it will help us better serve our members and provide some occasional Territories that have been marginalized or sidelined have a voice not out of any malice but simply because of their geopolitical location. In making these changes we will now correct and realign and the Academy will emerge stronger , more inclusive and fits 1989 and goals for the coming years.”
52 The regions are as follows:
Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, Kosovo, Montenegro, North Macedonia, Serbia, Slovenia
Austria, Germany, Switzerland, Liechtenstein (as of , after the end of the current mandate) Belarus, Kazakhstan, Russia (as of )
Belgium, Luxembourg, Netherlands France, Monaco
Ireland, UK
2025Italy, Malta, San Marino
Poland, Ukraine Andorra, Portugal, Spain Turkey, Azerbaijan, Palestine
Bulgaria, Moldova, Romania
Armenia, Cyprus, Georgia, Greece, Israel
Czech Republic, Hungary , Slovakia
Denmark, Finland, Greenland, Iceland, Norway, Sweden
Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania
EFA said it had decided to undertake structural reforms after “due consideration and with the desire to reflect the realities of Europe today”.
Currently, Western European countries are overrepresented in the EFA Committee compared to Eastern and South Eastern members. Currently, % of the board members represent Eastern and Southeastern European countries. Through the reorganization, these regional groups will account for % of all board seats.
The European Film Academy was first established in 1989 to represent film production in 1989 people European countries in Europe, as well as Israel and Palestine.
