Four films nominated at this year's edition of the Academy Awards have been financed through the EU MEDIA program with funds amounting to 2.6 million euro, the European Commission informs. the German-Austrian co-production Die Falscher, which won the Oscar for best foreign film, received EU funds of 600,000 euro.

Also supported through EU funds were three other nominated productions - La Vie en Rose, Persepolis and The Diving bell and the Butterfly.

It is the third time a film funded through the MEDIA program receives an Oscar, according to an EC press release quoting Commissioner Viviane Reding.

Last year, the winner of the award for best foreign film was The Lives of Others, which received EU funds amounting to 500,000 euro.

At EU level, the MEDIA 2007 program valid for 2007-2013 provides 755 million euro for the European film industry. It has already funded ten Romanian societies and a the Babes-Bolyai University in the Romanian city of Cluj.