The UNIC Cinema Days once again served as a meeting point for the mentoring community, a few months after its initial first gathering that launched the programme’s eighth edition.
The session brought together nearly all participants from the 2024/2025 intake and was moderated by Monica Chadha, Independent Director.
After a welcome introduction by Laura Houlgatte, UNIC CEO, both mentors and mentees shared feedback and exchanged about their mentoring experience. This was followed by a practical workshop on what defines a successful leader, as well as an effective or defective mentoring relationship. Monica, who facilitated the workshop, shared her valuable insights on the topics.
UNIC also invited an inspirational speaker to talk about their leadership style and own path to success. We were delighted to be joined by Juan Antonio Gomez, Chief Partnerships and Content Officer at ODEON Cinemas Group, who talked very openly about his own experience, and imparted very practical advice to attendees. Hearing about his journey, his learnings and the challenges he overcame, was truly empowering. Many Q&As followed the interview.
At the end of the meeting, Laure Galtier, Events & Project Manager of UNIC, thanked the current sponsors of the programme Vista Group, Imax and Barco and outlined the next steps, announcing the next group calls in November and suggesting some exercises for the mentees, such as the job shadowing and switch mentor month, to be carried out early next year. She also announced the afternoon quickfire session during the conference, which would showcase the WCLP programme thanks to testimonials form mentor Alexandra Body (CinemaNext) and mentee Angela Malvone (Rai Cinema), and two new videos promoting the programme.
All in all, it was another inspiring session, reinforcing the value of the programme and coming together as a community. The next in-person get-together of the group will take place in June at CineEurope 2025.
If you have any question about the programme or if you want to apply as a mentor or a mentee for the next 2025-2026 edition, please contact lgaltier@unic-cinemas.org.