Int'l FF Summit Europe - Calling All Festivals

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Parent Category: Expos and Conventions

Category: Previews

Published on Thursday, 08 April 2010 13:49

Written by Laura Blum

What do you get when you convene a roomful of film-festival impresarios and entertainment honchos for two days? As participants at the International Film Festival Summit Europe will tell you, anything but films.

Held April 8 to 9, 2010, in Amsterdam, the fourth annual IFFS conference and symposium offers up workshops, keynotes and panels dissecting the latest trends in festivals and independent film. Beyond educational sessions, the largely European assembly also hosts informal networking events designed to spark partnerships.

The IFFS brochure says it's the place to "recharge your batteries." To be sure, anyone who has ever produced one of the world's 4,000 film festivals knows the energy demands of drawing audience, revenue and programming in today's increasingly competitive festival universe. At the Summit, fest magisters can compare notes, and hear about problems and solutions their counterparts their counterparts may be entertaining.

The opening panel invites a critique of the current festival model, and looks ahead to the next five years. Speakers are Thessaloniki International Film Festival director Despina Mouzaki; Rutger Wolfson, director of International Film Festival Rotterdam; Copenhagen Film Festivals CEO Jørgen Ramskov; and Corona Cork Film Festival director & CEO Mick Hannigan, who is also a keynoter on April 9.

Bookended by keynotes — including about music events — another morning activity introduces conference-goers to their "Living Group." This small breakout session is intended as a turbo kit for building bonds among industry colleagues.

At a "How To" panel about navigating such fraught issues as premieres, release windows, distribution and the media, Dublin International Film Festival director Grainne Humphreys joins Moscow International Film Festival program director Kirill Razlogov and Milano International Film Festival director and founder Andrea Galante.

Economic worries hover over the Amsterdam confab, making a panel called "Festival Funding Sources" especially compelling. Its brain trust includes Arnaud Pasquali, head of media at Promotion MEDIA; William Fenton, director of Sponsorship Consulting Limited; Astrid Hallenstvedt, sponsorship manager of Stockholm International Film Festival and Tallinn Black Nights Film Festival director Tina Lokk.

No less topical is a dissection of the production and distribution role festivals are increasingly called on to play. Weighing in on the industry functions of even the most intimate fests is a panel moderated by European Independent Film Festival director Scott Hillier who will lob questions to:

IDFA industry office head Adriek van Nieuwenhuyzen
Angeliki Vergou, coordinator of "Crossroads" at Thessaloniki International Film Festival
German Film Export Union managing director Christian Dorsch
Katrine Kiilgaard, head of Nordisk Panorama Industry at Filmkontakt Nord
London Independent Film Festival director Erich Schultz
Seville European Film Festival artistic director Javier Martín-Domínguez.

A presentation that's gold-starred as a "must-attend" is Alex Fischer's "Conceptualizing Festival Operation." The educator, festival organizer and consultant from Queensland, Australia's Bond University will analyze methods for operational competitiveness and share ideas for managing conflicting pressures.

The closing panel, about digital technology and other media issues, includes speakers James Fabricant, who handles business development and strategy at MySpace.com, and Richard Caelius, European general manager of Xomo Mobile, among others.

The full program of curated and free-wheeling chat — and parties — is posted at www.filmfestivalsummit.com

International Film Festival Summit
Apr. 8- 9, 2010
Hotel Novotel Amsterdam City
Europaboulevard 10
1083 AD Amsterdam
Netherlands
+31 20 54 11123
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