The popular and festival success of films from small European countries not only indicates the growing importance of small European film industries but also renders it necessary to investigate how these success stories were initiated. The following paper argues how a comparative model, as developed in other social sciences, could be employed to systematically scrutinise the growing importance of small European film industries. The focus on similar cases together with an analysis of funding models and the structural background of the exhibition sector as presented in the European Cinema Yearbook can provide a useful instrument to introduce the comparative model for the understanding of cinema in small European countries.