On Friday 17th February, Jaime Tarrazon, Senior Vice President and Treasurer of UNIC, took part in the industry event "Your European audience at a glance" organized by Creative Europe MEDIA together with the European Film Market.
The session was opened by Renate Nikolay, Deputy Director General DG CNECT at the European Commission and Erika Jakab (European Commission) who provided a first preview of some results of a multi-country audience research carried out over the past year for the preparation of the “Media Outlook”, a comprehensive media market report which the Commission plans to publish in spring 2023. The goal of the consumer survey is to understand what kind of films, series and documentaries Europeans watch and identify audience behaviour and preferences.
The presentation was followed by a panel featuring Jaime Tarrazon, Rodolphe Buet, (CBO, Newen Studios, France) and Lucia Recalde (Head of Unit, Creative Europe MEDIA). Jaime Tarrazon highlighted the importance of putting these data into context and involving the film industry to better understand the results. He presented how local films worked in 2022 in Europe and that films with a successful performance in theatres have higher visibility on other platforms. Lucia Recalde said that efforts have to be made to increase the visibility and discoverability of European films, with more investment in promotion and an increased support to films that can circulate. Rodolphe Buet stated that producers needed to anticipate the preferences of the audience and create an appetite for different films. More about the event here.
On 18th February UNIC attended the panel organized by Film i Vast “Public Film Funding at a Crossroads II”, which was intended as a follow up to the publication "Public Film Funding at A Crossroads" released in 2022. The goal was to deepen the discussion around public film and audiovisual policies and for public film agencies in the mid- and long-term future.
On Sunday 19th February, Laura Houlgatte, UNIC CEO, delivered a presentation in the panel “Cinema and Youth: Empowering young generations of filmmakers and filmgoers” organised by the LUX Audience Award.
The event was chaired by Evelyn Regner (S&D, Austria), Vice-President of the European Parliament, with introductory remarks by Željana Zovko (EPP, Croatia), Member of the Committee on Culture and Education of the European Parliament. The goal was to discuss how to attract young people both as cinema audiences and as valuable resources for the film industry.
The panel also featured Isabella Weber, Story editor and former LUX Ambassador; Edith Sepp Head of the Estonian Film Institute and Vice-President of EFAD; Wiktoria PelzerExhibitor and distributor, Stadtkino, Austria; Petra Rockenfeller (Exhibitor, Lichtburg Filmpalast, Germany
In the afternoon UNIC attended the panel organized Europa Distribution "Surfing The Waves: Audience building in a new period of changes". Distributors, exhibitors, festival managers and VOD platform discussed how to promote European films and attract audiences in post Covid times.
The programme of the session can be found here.