The Permanent Conference of Mediterranean Audiovisual Operators (COPEAM), film students, emerging artists, producers and film festival delegates have spent three days in Beirut seeking ways to foster new talent unearthed by the Arab Spring through more regional film and TV coproductions.

The three-day co-production seminar in the Lebanese capital was co-funded by the EU under a project to develop the audiovisual industry in the southern Mediterranean.

It was organized by the Lebanese Academy of Fine Arts (ALBA), Morocco's film, television and visual arts school (ESAV), and the Tunis School of Multimedia Arts (ISAMM).

The conference’s goal was to promote regional film and TV coproductions, including between North African and Gulf countries, and to open the door to newly-empowered, creative minds emerging in the wake of the Arab Spring.

COPEAM said that by bringing independent producers and young directors together with public broadcasters, it was affirming its commitment to sustaining audiovisual production in the southern Mediterranean.

COPEAM, which is based in Rome at the headquarters of Italian EBU Member RAI, is a partner organization of the EBU.