Europa Cinema, the pan-European association of arthouse cinemas, announced major changes in its management on Tuesday: Founder Claude-Eric Poiroux resigned from his position as general director after 30 years. He will be succeeded by the current COO Fatima Djoumer, who has been appointed as the new CEO.
Poiroux was awarded the title of Honorary President of Europa Cinema in recognition of his work in establishing and developing the exhibition network, which now includes more than 3,000 cinema screens in 744 cities across the continent.
“With the creation of this network and its development thanks to the continuous financial support of Creative Europe Media since the beginning, we have strengthened cinema operators in their programming decisions for European films and in their dynamic and innovative strategies for building and renewing audiences”, Claude – Eric Poiroux said. “More than ever, this network is vital to the growth and visibility of European film.”
“The entire network will always be indebted to Claude-Eric, whose vision has enabled us to build such an extensive and diverse network,” Europa Cinemas said in a statement. “Europa Cinemas’ core belief is that cinemas are vital to the future of film. Our network is constantly looking for innovative ways to strengthen its role in the film ecosystem and build audiences. Europa Cinemas has a highly active membership committed to diversity, inclusion and innovation, and we will remain focused on turning their passion into practical action.”
Alongside Djoumer, Europa Cinemas elected a new steering committee for the association, elected Nico Simon from Luxembourg as President for a further year and appointed Metka Dariš (Slovenia) and Mathias Holtz (Sweden) as Vice-Presidents, Benoît Thimister (Belgium) as Treasurer and Maria Magdalena Gierat (Poland) as secretary.
The Europa Cinemas network, an association of independent art house theatres, operates in 744 cities in 38 countries across Europe. Cinemas across the network sold more than 83 million tickets last year.
