Montenegro hosted this year's edition of "MEDICI - The Film Funding Journey", an event organized in cooperation with the Film Center of Montenegro by the foundation for professional training in the field of film FOCAL, which was held from September 28 to 30 in Budva, as a series of discussions and workshops intended for high-ranking public financiers from the world of film and audio-visual arts.
FCCG director Aleksandra Božović and the President of the Council Edin Jasarovic were participants in the entire event, improving capacities and connections that will contribute to the further development of the film industry in our country.
The main part of the program included two days of an intensive program that consisted of several segments: presentations, case studies, group discussions, but also conversations with experts and decision-makers at the European level, who presented both their personal and the opinions of the organizations they represent, which concern public funding of film, and the audio-visual sector in general.
One of the main topics of the first day concerned the shaping of the agenda of public film funds, during which Johanne Koljonen, a media industry analyst, spoke about global streamers such as Amazon and Netflix investing large sums in Europe through acquisition and production, but in addition to offering new opportunities to filmmakers, they have a significant long-term impact on the entire production ecosystem. Platforms for online content presentation, i.e. streamers, were the main topic during the presentation as well Katrine Schlüter Schierbeck, lawyers for intellectual property. In this module, Katrine Schlüter presented the legal perspective of working with streamers. She spoke about the growing number of European countries that require streamers to invest part of their income in national film and television production, but also that this kind of cooperation is subject to different legal regulations and has different goals depending on the countries that are involved in the process.
The day ended with a conversation between Susan Newman Baudais from Eurimages and Tamara Tatishvili about the beginning of a new era in Eurimages. For the first time since its establishment in 1988, the fund began to use industry experts to select co-production projects to be financed. Susan Newman Baudais spoke about what led to this change and presented the implications for the fund and its administration. She offered a first look at the impact of the new system and potential further innovations.
Aleksandra Božović, who this year attended MEDICI for the first time in her role as FCCG director, said that she considers it a great success that in the fifth year of the Center's existence, we managed to get the opportunity to host the eleventh MEDICI workshop, which brought together directors of film funds in Budva from all over Europe, Canada, Israel and Azerbaijan.
"As the director of one of the youngest film funds in Europe, participating in such a workshop brought the knowledge that we all face similar challenges, regardless of the budgets we have, and that one of the main recommendations is that in the future we should focus our efforts on developing talents and empowering producers. With the successful realization of this conference and the great energy that everyone brought from this gathering, I believe that we have only paved the way for the development of Montenegrin cinematography even more strongly," said Božović.
The second day included the presentation Mie Bays, director of the BFI Film Fund, who spoke about the recovery process of the public film fund - ways of cooperation, establishing new connections, and improved advocacy processes. Below, those present had the opportunity to hear a conversation with Orw Nyrabio, artistic director of the International Documentary Film Festival in Amsterdam, who focused on redefined responsibilities, that is, whether today is more focused on funding talent or funding innovation.
One of the crucial topics was the discovery and nurturing of talents, i.e. what is the future basic task of public film funds, and they talked about this Claus Ladegaard, executive director of the Danish Film Institute and Mette Damgaard-Sørensen, director of New Danish Screen. The focus was on the importance of constantly questioning the key roles of public financiers in the film. The speakers also gave insight into how MEDICI event participants can help discover and support young talent, who and how to support talent in the new funding ecosystem and how to do it effectively.
MEDICI gathers high-ranking public financiers, but its primary goal is to gather highly qualified experts and provide an environment for knowledge exchange.
Bonus video:
