We annually organise an international Short Film Conference during the Clermont-Ferrand International Short Film Festival. This Conference consists of a series of presentations, panel discussions & industry talks. Some parts are exclusively open to our members.
𝗪𝗘’𝗥𝗘 αℓℓ 𝗢𝗡𝗟𝗜𝗡𝗘
After a year full of changes and reflections, it’s time to adapt to a new festival ecosystem, because the future is now. Since all of us are online, in one form or another, Short Film Conference 2021 aims to broaden our visions and come up with new ideas in order not to step on each other’s toes in an already overcrowded digital space.
We listen to some well experienced online curators from leading digital platforms. What has been the essence of their curational philosophy and has this changed over the years? Who are they aiming for with their online content? Can they see eye to eye with the (new) festival ecosystem or do they feel threatened?
How are distributors, sales agents and agencies looking at the changing digital selling market? Is there something to gain from worldwide online premieres? How to adapt to a new media chronology and has this changed forever?
3rd of February, 2020
14.00—15.00
50/50 BY 2020: GENDER EQUALITY IN THE SHORT FILM INDUSTRY
in collaboration with Be Short Now!
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Watch a recording here.
With much being made of gender equality within the film business, with both film production and major festivals such as Cannes and Venice all coming under intense scrutiny, this panel will explore gender (in)equality within the world of short film. We’ll discuss the steps that can be taken to ensure short film can lead the way in terms of diversity and inclusivity.
Moderated by: Gina Dellabarca (Short Film Conference)
Panelists: Julie Billy (co-Founder & co-President of Collectif 50/50) & Ivana Kvesic (executive Board Member of SWAN – Swiss Women’s Audiovisual Network)
In her book “I Made a Short Film, Now WTF Do I Do With It?“, filmmaker Clarissa Jacobson offers fellow writers and directors a guide to film festivals, promotion and surviving the short film circuit. Jacobson will be on hand to share some of her tips with the audience whilst exchanging knowledge and ideas with the festivals and organisations she writes about in her book.
Presentation: Clarissa Jacobson
16.00—17.00
“DID WE MAKE IT TO SHORT MEME CORNER?” — SOCIAL MEDIA STRATEGY FOR SHORT FILM FESTIVALS
Social media is a term that, to many, just means putting the occasional post on Facebook or making sure there’s a festival poster on Instagram. This talk will invite representatives from three diverse film festivals who will chat about how they use social media to highlight their festivals and also give their events and organisations a life throughout the year. Going viral, posting videos, hashtagging and much more will be discussed as you discover how to maximise social media for a minimum budget. We’ll also end by revealing who Short Meme Corner really is. (Ok, no, we won’t).
Presentations: Giulio Vita (Festival Director of La Guarimba Film Festival), Jaime E. Manrique (Artistic Director of BOGOSHORTS) & Heinrich Sepp (Communications & Marketing Director of PÖFF Shorts)
17.00—18.00
NETWORKING DRINKS
hosted by Talking Shorts & Clermont-Ferrand International Short Film Festival
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ANNOUNCEMENT SHORT OF THE YEAR
sponsored by Festival Regard
Come and hear who has won the Short of the Year 2019 — sponsored for the first time by Festival Regard that offers a free trip to their festival in March in Saguenay, Canada. We’ll celebrate the winner with some most welcome networking drinks offered by the Clermont-Ferrand International Short Film Festival & Talking Shorts, the brand new platform for short film criticism that we are happy to collaborate with and toast to!
4th of February, 2020
10.00—11.15
GENERAL ASSEMBLY
The Board offers new ideas to generate feedback from its membership. We encourage all members to be present. Voting for suggested ideas (both from the Board and the membership) will happen online in the week following the GA.
11.15—12.00
LUNCH
hosted by T-Port
We are happy to kick off 2020 in collaboration with T-Port, the online market for student shorts. International Manager Amos Geva will give a short presentation of the platform. Right after that, soup, sandwiches & carrot cake will be served!
MONDAY FEB. 4TH
Panelists: Salette Ramalho (Agencia), Sarah El Ouazzani (La Distributrice), Wouter Jansen (Some Shorts), Anne-Françoise Reynders (L’agence belge du court-métrage)
16.00—16.45
THE REALITY OF FAKE FESTIVALS
☒ Members only.
Shortfilm.de‘s Reinhard W. Wolf introduces us to the problem of pseudo/fake festivals, a growing problem that he has been researching for over a year. We discuss pre-emptive, retro-active & practical measures that we as a network can contribute to in order to tackle this issue collectively.
Moderator: Laurence Boyce (Short Film Conference)
Panelists: Jukka-Pekka Laakso (Tampere Film Festival), Laurent Crouzeix (Short Film Depot, Clermont-Ferrand International Short Film Festival), Víctor M. Muñoz (Festhome).
17.00—18.00
ANNOUNCEMENT ‘SHORT OF THE YEAR’
+ Industry Drinks
☒ Members only.
We announce the winner of this year’s Short of the Year, followed by some drinks, offered to us by the Clermont-Ferrand International Short Film Festival.
TUESDAY FEB. 5TH
☒ Members only.
The Board offers a few new ideas to generate feedback from its membership. We encourage all members to be present, as we will also introduce a new set of our Code of Ethics and the chance to join the board. If you’re interested in the latter, we ask you to reach out to us via e-mail. We’re looking for dynamic, pro-active people.
11.15—12.00
LUNCH
☒ Members only.
We end this morning with a lunch, offered for free to all Short Film Conference-members who join the General Meeting. Fresh soup and sandwiches will be served (including vegeterian options) and some delicious carrot cake for dessert.
MONDAY FEB. 5TH
14.00-15.00 – SHORT OF THE WEEK’S “BE EVERYWHERE ALL AT ONCE” STRATEGY (Presentation)
Open to everyone – please RSVP.
With the explosion of fan and industry interest in short films online, filmmakers have an unprecedented opportunity to share their work globally. Co-Founder of Short of the Week, and former Lead Curator of Vimeo, Jason Sondhi describes his company’s evolving thinking on how filmmakers should best take advantage in order to find audiences for their work and kickstart their careers. Flouting conventional wisdom regarding festival strategies, distribution arrangements, and current practices for online releases, he advocates for “maximum exposure in the shortest window”.
Speaker: Jason Sondhi (Short of the Week)
Moderator: Laurence Boyce (PÖFF Shorts / Cineurope)
15.15-16.00 – IN FOCUS: AFRICAN SHORT FILM FESTIVALS (Panel talk)
Open to SFC-members + invitees.
As the first in an ongoing series of examining festivals that might not be as well known to the West, the Short Film Conference will take an in-depth look at short film festivals in the continent of Africa. Claire Diao, France’s specialist of African Cinema, will moderate a talk with directors, festival programmers and delegates from all over Africa to talk about what’s hot and (not) happening in the African short film scene.
Speakers: Pape Lopy (Banlieue Film Festival Sénégal), Chipo Zhou (Durban International Film Festival) & Melissa Adeyemo (producer ‘Still water runs deep’).
Moderator: Claire Diao
16.15-17.00 CAN YOU EARN A LIVING AS A FESTIVAL DIRECTOR? (Table discussion)
Open to SFC-members only.
When working for a festival, you’re always in a strange hinterland, since it never has a proper classification. Do we work in the film business? Do we work in the organizing business? And how to make a living? Gina Dellabarca, experienced festival director of Show Me Shorts, will moderate this conversation about the difficulties of working for a festival and how we could do better.
Speakers: Sébastien Simon (Busan International Short Film Festival), John Canciani (Internationale Kurzfilmtage Winterthur) & Ailton Franco (Rio de Janeiro International Short Film Festival – Curta Cinema)
Moderator: Gina Dellabarca (Show Me Shorts)
17.00-18.00 – SHORT FILM CONFERENCE – GENERAL ASSEMBLEE
Open to SFC-members only.
We urge all SFC-members to be present at this General Assemblee, where we will talk about issues and questions that have come to surface as to what the current strategy of the Short Film Conference is and how it should evolve in the future. The Board of Directors will prepare a list of topics to be discussed & will of course propose answers too. These are the topics among them:
(a) What is the main goal of the Short Film Conference? What defines its DNA and how can it still evolve? / (b) How should the SFC tackle problems that (especially smaller) festivals are facing, in regards to submission platforms & others? / (c) Who can and should be a SFC-member and who shouldn’t? / (d) How much is the membership fee and what does it include? / (e) Who’s in the Board of Directors and what is their task? / (f) How will the Short Film Conference be looking for more money in order to be more visible & do more throughout the year? / …
Moderators: Laurence Boyce & Tim Redford
18.00-19.00 – NETWORKING DRINKS + ANNOUNCEMENT: WINNER OF THE SHORT OF THE YEAR AWARD
Open to everyone.
20.00-22.00 – NETWORKING DINNER @ THE SALVATION JANE PUB
Open to SFC-members only.
The Networking Dinner is reserved for SFC-members only. We ask for an additional €25/person (to be paid in cash upon arrival). This includes two vouchers for pints or soft drinks & food (starters, walking dinner and desserts). Note that there will be plenty of vegetarian food too. Any extra drinkers ordered have to be paid for.
Location lectures & assemblee: Maison de la Culture, Salle Gripel, Boulevard François Mitterrand 71. / Location dinner: The Salvation Jane Pub, Rue Terrasse 14.
MONDAY FEB. 6TH
14.00-15.00 – 5 THINGS WRONG WITH YOUR FILM FESTIVAL (Debate)
Open to everyone.
A recent online article entitled “15 Things Wrong With Your Short Film” rose the ire of some filmmakers. Not so much due to the content but to the fact that it was yet another in a long line of articles telling filmmakers what they might be doing wrong. Just where were the articles telling film festivals what they did wrong?
In the spirit of fair play, the Short Film Conference will hold an event entitled “Five* things wrong with your short film festival” (*We realise the original article had 15, we have chosen five simply because of time restrictions) and examine some of the criticisms levelled at events from filmmakers, industry players and – indeed – festivals themselves.
This will not be an exercise in singling out individual events and people – instead it is meant to allow film festivals to engage in some reflection on the things that we do whilst talking honestly about the problems that we face nowadays.
With a panel consisting of filmmakers and festival representatives the discussion will no doubt be a heated yet positive look at the world of short film festivals.
Speakers: Rich Warren (Encounters Short Film and Animation Festival), Sven Schwarz (Hamburg International Short Film Festival), Jing Haase (Nordisk Panorama Film Festival), Douwe Dijkstra (director), Wouter Jansen (Go Short – International Short Film Festival Nijmegen), Gunhild Enger (director)
Moderator: Laurence Boyce (International Short Film Festival Sleepwalkers)
15.15-16.15 – HOW EXCLUSIVE IS YOUR FESTIVAL? (Table discussion)
Open to everyone.
Why do some festivals have premiere requirements? What is the impact on other festivals? How does your festival change once you’re Oscar-accredited? How does a festival get Academy Award-accredited in the first place? Why would you strive for that? And finally: what about short films that are available online?
In this roundtable discussion a few key-speakers (programmers, festival directors) will shed a light on their experience within the short film world, regarding the question of exclusivity. Anyone in the audience is recommended to participate in the Q&A that follows.
Speakers: Mauro Gervasini (Venice Film Festival), Zita Carvalhosa (São Paulo International Short Film Festival), Seigo Tono (Short Shorts Film Festival & Asia), Theo Tsappos (Swedish Film Institute)
Moderator: Jacopo Chessa (Italian Short Film Center)
16.30-17.30 THE SHORT FILM WORLD & FILM JOURNALISM – MAKING TWO WORLDS WORK TOGETHER (Lecture)
Open to SFC-members only.
Journalism/film criticism has long been an established and important part of the film festival world. Yet many magazines are not interested in taking stories about short films and – despite the internet – outlets for many established journalists are shrinking. With that in mind just how are short film festivals approaching their relationships with film critics and journalists? With a product that many outlets won’t write about?
Laurence Boyce is both a journalist and the head of programme of International Short Film Festival Sleepwalkers and has seen both sides of the coin when it comes to the relationship between the press and the short film festivals world. He has written about short film festivals for trade magazines as well as specialist publications and Cineuropa Shorts, of which he is the editor.
In his talk, Laurence will explore the needs and wants of both journalists and festivals and examine the pitfalls he faces as a film journalist when specialising in short film. He will give practical advice on how to gain interest from trade magazines as well go through the kind of information that a journalist and critic needs to be able to make the best use of a festival they attend. He will also reflect on his past as a press officer for numerous major festivals and examine past relationships with the press world.
This talk will prove invaluable for any festival wanting to improve its relationship with the press and learn more about how to target its information to get the best coverage it can.
Speaker: Laurence Boyce (International Short Film Festival Sleepwalkers, Cineuropa Shorts)
17.30-18.00 – SHORT FILM CONFERENCE – GENERAL ASSEMBLEE
Open to SFC-members only.
18.15-19.00 – NETWORKING DRINKS + ANNOUNCEMENT: WINNER OF THE SHORT OF THE YEAR AWARD
Open to everyone.
19.30-22.00 – NETWORKING DINNER @ THE SALVATION JANE PUB
Open to SFC-members only.
Location lectures & assemblee: Maison de la Culture, Salle Gripel, Boulevard François Mitterrand 71. / Location dinner: The Salvation Jane Pub, Rue Terrasse 14.
MONDAY FEB. 8TH
15.00 – 16.00 – Table discussion entry fees, screening fees for shorts
It’s has been a discussion between festivals, filmmakers, film boards for years.. what about entry fees? A necessarily evil to contain the huge amounts of films flooding the festivals ? And should you expect a screening fee as filmmaker if your film does make the selection. A panel of experts in their own field discuss, together with the audience, different views.
Speakers: Pauline Ginot (Autour de Minuit, distributor), Eman Shihab (Reelport, submission platform), Simon Koenig (Swiss Films, governmental agency), Jukka-Pekka Laakso (Tampere Film Festival), Sydney Neter (SND Films, sales agent), Julien Westermann (Clermont-Ferrand Short Film Festival)
Moderator: Mick Hannigan (IndieCork)
16.05 – 17.15 – How to make your film festival louder by Iain Alexander
This lecture will cover some of the ways film festivals can boost their international presence and their social influence to significantly increase film submissions and attendance. This will also cover partnerships to help festivals bring additional revenue.
17.30 – 18.20 – Short Film Conference – general assemblee
18.20 – 19.00 – Network drinks, offered by Clermont-Ferrand SFF
19.30 – Network Diner @ Hotel Kyriad
Location lectures & assemblee: Maison de la Culture, Salle Gripel, Boulevard François Mitterrand 71.
Location diner: Hotel Kyriad, Avenue de la Libération 25
During the Covid19-crisis of 2020 we kept in touch with our network via several virtual seminars.
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Watch a recording here.
15th of April, 2020
A seminar that will focus on cancelling or postponing your festival. Speakers include Marie-Elaine Riou from Festival Regard, Anne Gaschütz from Filmfest Dresden & Sven Schwarz from Kurzfilm Festival Hamburg).
We’ll talk to them about their experiences dealing with all the changes and responsibilities they have come to face trying to stay afloat during these crazy times. How to cancel your festival without cancelling your audience? How to find new festival dates in (an already very crowded) fall season?
Panelists: Anne Gaschütz (FILMFEST DRESDEN), Marie-Elaine Riou (Festival Regard) & Sven Schwarz (Kurzfilm Festival Hamburg)
Moderator: Aneta Ozorek (Short Film Conference)
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Watch a recording here.
22nd of April, 2020
A seminar that will focus on transferring your festival to an online event. Confirmed speakers include Daniel Ebner from Vienna Shorts, Rich Warren from Encounters, Luce Grosjean from Miyu Distribution and Uli Wegenast from Stuttgart Festival of Animated Film.
We’ll talk to them about the technical and logistic difficulties they have faced when transforming their festivals into a succesful online event. How do you sell tickets? Who is the target group? What if directors don’t want their films to be screened online yet?
Panelists: Daniel Ebner (Vienna Shorts), Luce Grosjean (Miyu Distribution), Rich Warren (Encounters Film Festival), Uli Wegenast (Stuttgart Festival of Animated Film)
Moderator: Gina Dellabarca (Short Film Conference)
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Watch a recording here.
10th of June, 2020
This seminar gives our members (and others) the opportunity to listen to the point-of-view of some affected filmmakers and those that represent them. How are directors and sales agents dealing with postponed festivals, cancelled premieres, online screening and the lack of human connections and networking that are usually so vital to the festival experience?
Panelists: Katie McCullough (Festival Formula Ltd.), Lasse Linder (director), Niki Lindroth von Bahr (director), Nicolas Schmerkin (Autour de Minuit) and Sergio Fant (Berlinale).
Moderator: Aneta Ozorek (Short Film Conference)
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Recording available upon request via niels@shortfilmconference.com.
17th of June, 2020
This seminar continues where we left off. Let’s listen to the experiences of some festival representatives that worked hard on transforming their analogue festival into a digital one. What was the biggest challenge? What were their best experiences before, during and after the festival? What would they have done differently?
Panelists: Daniel Ebner (Vienna Shorts), Hilke Doering (Internationale Kurzfilmtage Oberhausen) & Barbara Orlicz (Krakow Film Festival).
Moderator: John Canciani (Short Film Conference)
In collaboration with several partners, we organise forums or think thanks to tackle a specific topic from different angles.
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Recording available upon request via niels@shortfilmconference.com.
12th of April, 2021
Riga International Short Film Festival 2ANNAS and Short Film Conference organised the forum CAN WE BE GREEN? to spice up the conversation on environmental issues and nurture it into concrete actions. As more and more festivals worldwide are broadening the discourse and organising activities on sustainability, we believe it is high time to gather all relevant information and make it available afterwards to be shared and practiced on. A more sustainable future awaits!
Three inspiring case studies — presented by Lotte Kircher (Head of Industry at Internationale Kurzfilmtage Winterthur), Sven Schwarz (Festival Director at Kurzfilm Festival Hamburg) & Clotilde De Swarte (Head of the Green Committee at Festival du nouveau cinéma, FNC) prove that actions are not only necessary but also possible. Their presentations were followed by a blitz crowdsourced brainstorming session.
To answer all remaining questions or concerns, we had invited A Greener Festival’s consultancy — a non-profit association committed to helping events, festivals and venues around the world to become more sustainable and to reduce their environmental impact. Claire O’Neill (Co Founder and Director of A Greener Festival) shows us how it’s done.
We regularily host roundtables and panel talks at festivals around the globe, tackling topics and issues related to the short film industry.
NOVEMBER 28TH, 2022
The issue of fair work spans many industries and it is quite prominent in the cultural sector. The film festival circuit makes no exception. However, an open discussion concerning fair payment of festival workers has been mostly avoided by the industry. One of the reasons is the different labour laws and regulations in place in each country. This keynote aims to open this long due discussion about fair work in the film festival circuit, especially in the short film one. The session will start with a presentation by the Forum Õsterreichischer Filmfestivals (FÖFF) on the status quo of fair pay in Austria. Recently the Forum published fair pay guidelines for its members, following an internal survey of the different levels of payment in different festivals for various festival jobs – from leadership to interns. At the same time Austrian funding institutions have started taking on some responsibility for fair wages for cultural work. Yet the situation of precarious festival work in Austria is still far from being resolved, as inflation is starting to destroy the limited gains and many institutions are still heavily underfunded. Against this background the presentation will give insights in the work-in-progress and controversial questions of reaching a binding fair wage policy among festivals with highly different resources and diverse makeups.
The second part will consist of a moderated discussion between the keynote speaker and three respondents, in order to further discuss the topic and how to effectively reapply the good practice implemented by FÖFF on a transnational scale.
Keynote Speaker: Benjamin Gruber (Forum Österreichischer Filmfestivals)
Respondents: Sanne Jehoul (Glasgow Short Film Festival),
Skadi Loist (Universitat Babelsberg),
Katja Wiederspahn (Viennale)
Moderator: Anne Gaschütz (Locarno Film Festival, Filmfest Dresden)
Access the recording HERE.
MARCH 25TH, 2022
The expertise of the film critic is undeniable. Cinephile, journalist, interviewer, author or columnist, there are many qualifiers for this extraordinary profession which can make or break a filmmaker’s career with one cutthroat or rave review.
But in this time of omni-present YouTube vlogs, hastily published online reviews, hack writing and articles without subjectivity or journalistic rigor, is there still a place for the film critic of yore? How does the up-and-coming critic nowadays make it work in the long run?
Moderator: Daniel Racine (Vues du Québec – Festival de cinéma de Florac)
Panelists: Jason Gorber (That Shelf), Justine Smith (Cult MTL), Michiel Philippaerts (Talking Shorts)
Access the recording HERE.
MARCH 16TH, 2019
Developing a distribution strategy is crucial for filmmakers. How do they decide which festivals to target when they are not experts in this field? In this panel presentation our experts discuss the important role distributors play in providing a connection between filmmakers and film festivals. Our guests will give their advice and answer your questions. Topics covered will include an overview of distribution, how festivals are ranked and classified by distributors and demystification of the role of Oscar-qualifying festivals.
Moderator: Gina Dellabarca (Short Film Conference)
Panelists: Jean-Christophe J. Lamontagne (H264 Distribution), Jeremy Comte (director of the Oscar-nominated ‘Fauve’), Alexandre Dostie (Travelling Distribution), Linda Olszewski (ShortsTV US)
MARCH 16TH, 2019
A panel discussion about the state of play for the short film industry in South American countries. What issues are currently challenging for filmmakers, festival organisers, distributors and content providers? How can festival programmers better connect with filmmakers in South America?
This event will be preceded by short introductions from all of the SFC-members present, and followed by informal networking drinks.
Moderator: Gina Dellabarca (Short Film Conference)
Panelists: Ailton Franco (Curta Cinema Rio de Janeiro International Short Film Festival, Brazil), Farid Rodriguez (Lima Independiente, Peru), Harold Ospina Hincapie (International Short Film Festival Cine a la Calle, Colombia)
APRIL 28TH, 2019
South Korea routinely produces around 1,000 short films per year: how many of them get submitted to film festivals abroad? How do these films fare in festivals’ selections? Do their directors often travel to these events? Representatives of three festivals from three different continents discuss what they have come to expect from Korean short films.
Moderator: Sébastien Simon (Short Film Conference)
Panelists: Delphine Jeanneret (Internationale Kurzfilmtage Winterthur, Switzerland), Justine Yi-chiech Huang (Kaoshiung Film Festival, Taiwan), Emilie Poirier (Festival du Nouveau Cinema, Canada) & Roger Gonin (Clermont-Ferrand International Short Film Festival, France)
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Watch a recording here.
29th of May, 2020
The transition from an analog to a digital film festival happened quickly, and not all of it was smooth. The switch threw some established rules and festival formats overboard, and the new situation presented many challenges to the short film ecosystem: Does using geoblocking make sense? Are premiere rules invalid on the internet? At what point do fall festivals change their submission and screening guidelines? In short, must we rethink distribution chains and our code of ethics?
Panelists: Sanne Jehoul (Glasgow Short Film Festival), Jason Anderson (Aspen Shortsfest/TIFF), Enrico Vannucci (Biennale Venice) & John Canciani (Internationale Kurzfilmtage Winterthur)
Moderator: Marija Milovanovic (Vienna Shorts & Lemonade Films)
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Watch a recording here.
28th of August, 2020
Film festivals aren’t only about screenings, awards and red carpets. For filmmakers, they also represent opportunities to develop their professional connections, to lobby for their next projects and, generally, to meet and converse with peers. Some festivals even make sure to provide their guests with as many networking opportunities and incentives as possible by establishing film markets.
While these platforms may seem to make more sense for feature film festivals such as Cannes, Berlin or Busan, several short film markets also exist and thrive. But is the global short film industry profitable enough to justify the creation of more short film markets?
Panelists: Diana Camargo (BOGOSHORTS), Laurent Crouzeix (Clermont-Ferrand International Short Film Festival) & Alessandro Giorgio (Torino Short Film Market)
Moderator: Sébastien Simon (Short Film Conference)
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Watch a recording here.
5th of October, 2020
Are hybrid festivals really the new normal? Can we no longer ignore the potential online outreach? Do we still feel connected to our audiences in a virtual context? We’re excited to talk to representatives of three hybrid festivals to exchange experiences, ideas and future outlooks.
Panelists: Viviana Carlet (Lago Film Fest), Misha Haberthuer (Fantoche), Emilia Mazik (Short Waves Festival) & Anne Gaschütz (FILMFEST DRESDEN)
Moderator: Sébastien Simon (Short Film Conference)
We encourage our festival members to organise small, informal meetings with other industry members to collectively and constructivly discuss and tackle ongoing trends (whether they be positive or negative) within our industry.
A SFC board representative will be present to take notes, share them amongst our membership and discuss further how and when to take action if required.