Montenegrin cinematography is on the right track, but it is necessary to find and additionally encourage new, young authors whose voices must be heard and who represent the future of the domestic and European film industry, the executive director of Eurimage, the Council of Europe's support fund, pointed out in an interview with "Vijesti" the film industry Susan Newman Baudais.
She took up this important position in April last year, and already in September she visited Montenegro when a conference on European film and film project financing "Focal MEDICI: The Film Funding Journey 2022" (Medici) was held in Budva, and on that occasion she officially met associates from the Film Center of Montenegro.
In addition to impressions from Montenegro, she comments and compares European and American cinematography, emphasizing that cinema repertoires should focus on domestic and European films. Among the goals of Eurimages during her mandate, she singles out achieving gender equality, promoting diversity, encouraging young authors, helping cinemas, but also an ecological, i.e. green and sustainable, approach to the film industry...
With all that, he points out that it is necessary to reconsider where we are at the moment, which way we want to continue and in what way...
Hollywood types of blockbusters are not what a potential viewer should opt for, but I think that European film is a roadmap that we should follow in order to promote openness, cooperation, discussion and dialogue," says the executive director of Eurimage.
In September 2022, you were in Montenegro, i.e. in Budva, where the conference on European film and funding of film projects "Focal MEDICI: The Film Funding Journey 2022" (Medici) was held. What were the initial impressions after the cooperation with the Film Center of Montenegro?
It was my first time in Montenegro, and also the first opportunity to participate in the "Medici" event. Given that I am the executive director of Eurimages, I had the opportunity to cooperate with the Film Center of Montenegro before, but in a different context, so it was really nice to continue that cooperation in Montenegro. It's wonderful that everyone got the opportunity to come to Montenegro and share their experiences and talk about film and the industry right here. I feel that we were given the opportunity to see your country, to be productive, and also, as is the goal of the Medici, it was also an opportunity to network, but also to meet FCCG management. After a series of various online events during the pandemic, I am glad that the conference brought us together in Montenegro, and in large numbers. I am sure that it is one of the recommendations of your country, but also a significant contribution to the image of Budva.
What topics did you open during the conference and are there perhaps any (general) conclusions you reached or visible results?
It is difficult to draw concrete conclusions, because the conference was quite extensive and extensive, and we were bombarded with a lot of different examples and ideas, as it were... It takes some time to process everything and apply it, and I am sure that some of the participants are some of that already done. A topic that was particularly interesting and significant for all film industries across Europe, perhaps most of all for smaller countries like Montenegro, is the question of how to find new film voices, discover the brave voices of tomorrow, those young creators we want to support to tell their stories in their own way. way, regardless of which way it will be, whether it is artistic, satisfactory for them and the region or not... Another topic I would like to highlight is how to further present these stories to the public, how to make as many people as possible hear their voices and how to market new films, but also the works of young authors... And this is precisely the future of our industry - new filmmakers that we have yet to find and identify with, whose themes we need to understand and accept, and the themes they raise are questions of today. We need to think about the ways in which we can achieve this and how to encourage these young people to be confident in themselves. Among us in Budva were mainly renowned film workers and previously known representatives of various film funds, and all of them were united in ideas and desires whose goal is to become sure that the establishment will present us with new ways for the realization and production of films by young authors, to give them more freedom to work in their own way, to create, create and be free, to advance their own perspectives, without holding them back through bureaucracy, shackles of tradition or anything like that...

How familiar are you with the film industry in Montenegro and are there any segments that should be improved?
Honestly, I would not dare to talk about how it is necessary to improve the quality of films in Montenegro, because Montenegro already has quite a good production and film production fund. The quality of all achievements that come as majority or minority Montenegrin productions, created independently or in partnership, has been very high until now. I would say that we already have quite a number of films that are supported as Montenegrin or minority projects, so because of all that I think there is no need to tell you how to be more successful. What I think is really significant is that Montenegro has become an (important) member of Eurimage, and the fact is that this contributes to the image of Montenegrin cinematography, but also to Eurimage, which has always through its existence opened the door to new collaborations, whether in big producers or those who don't have much experience, up to wider co-productions that benefit all participants. Thus, all members of Eurimage, including the Film Center of Montenegro, work together, which guarantees the exchange of experience and improvement of the skills of all involved in the film sector. Eurimaž also wants to encourage reaching out for new partnerships and the creation of new collaborations, to which the awards given for projects that are in the development phase or for networking productions contribute, which is sometimes necessary for the preparation of the project, finding additional finance and presenting the project as a whole , and then distributions. We make it easier, as an example I can cite many Montenegrin projects, and I will single out one very important documentary film, "The Last Nomad", a co-production of Serbia and Montenegro.
Although we are residents of the old continent, Hollywood cinematography is the most common in the repertoire of our cinemas, while European film is a kind of so-called alternative... What do you think about it, in the context of popularity and quality?
Observing this, let's call it problematic, I conclude that there are two different aspects of looking at it. The first one is more related to the story being told and what is the goal of telling that particular story in the film. I think that's the bottom line. I think we will all agree that it is necessary to continue supporting European cinematography and films in which European creators tell our, European, domestic, close stories that reflect the lives of all of us on the screen. I believe that a critical review of our identity is needed, of us as people, as separate states, nations, political systems... It is necessary to see our stories on the big screen, and from a certain critical perception, such as European film offers. Hollywood production is different. However, I must point out that we have a lot of difficulties in the process of creating and distributing films, regardless of what or whose productions we are talking about. For example, Eurimaž provides support for hundreds of films and projects every year, and then later it becomes difficult to present and market it to the audience, and the question of how to get people interested in watching any of those films is a special issue. to the rest of the repertoire or the popularity of Hollywood. Festivals remain as one of the ways of connecting viewers with European cinematography...
What is the other perception of observing the European and American film industry?
Yes, on the other hand, Hollywood movies have enormous budgets that are much larger than the total sums of some production markets, so we can't compete with that. We just have to be smarter, figure out better ways to make movies and be economical. Also, I think we need to think much more about how to reach our younger audience that is present on social networks and how to use social networks and other ways of (their) communication as a potential medium to convey a message. It is necessary to connect with the young audience, and then also with younger filmmakers who already have their own fan base and people who follow them and are interested in what they do, and that's how we reach them. So we need to be much smarter and think ahead. It was also another topic we talked about at the Medici Conference, because we wanted to think about it together. We need to have people, to begin with, and then to get the audience interested together with those people.
Certainly, perhaps we should think more about how to help European cinemas. Little is said about it, but cinemas have been struggling for years due to the pandemic and various global problems, additionally because people's habits have changed during the pandemic, and various streaming platforms have become more popular. Even people my age have taken up the pattern of watching movies online. That's another one of our tasks - to restore the popularity of cinemas and help them regain and gain audiences. Movies are made to be watched in cinemas and on big screens, and it's certainly not the same to watch a movie on a screen or on a phone, it's not the same artistic vision, and even the story is different. We have to find ways to connect all these things and solve problems...
You became the executive director of Eurimages last year and in one of the interviews you stated that some of your goals are the promotion of gender equality, but also the so-called green action plans, the development of an ecological approach to the film industry, self-sustainability and the like... What is the situation with everything?
There is a lot of talk about sustainability and green aspects of film production at the professional level, but it is clear that from an external perspective the results are not yet very visible, although progress is happening. Fueled by the need for something, and further fueled by the pandemic, I think it is necessary for society to achieve gender equality, ecological approach to film, self-sustainability of the industry...
Considering that Eurimazh is financed from the official fund of the European Union and covers the film industry throughout Europe, the speed of solving problems within those countries is different, which is normal. In some countries, the so-called green approach is progressing and the system already has set rules that need to be followed during the process, while there are those who are just thinking and starting with this sustainable approach, so we have to be very careful. We need to encourage all Eurimages members to do so, additionally using the experience of other countries, which we are working hard on. There is a so-called study group made up of experts from all over Europe, which we often consult about what we can do and how to influence and encourage film workers... From this year, we plan to use a series of measures to encourage and empower people in the film sector, whether it's about ecology or gender equality. We are trying to develop unique expertise and put it at the service of countries that do not have a large budget and capacity to develop their own measures in that context, but with existing resources, thanks to those proposals, that is, expertise, they will be able to advance in these fields.
Do you have any future plans and goals that you want to achieve in the future?
Of course, but our strategy and internal policy and programs are decided by the Eurimages Board of Directors, which consists of representatives of all our member countries, so it is up to them to decide on these matters. Of course, I know what kind of progress they are striving for. Last year we made a very important change in what constitutes our main function, which is project support and how we decide which projects will receive support. One of the things that will concern the Board in the coming period is precisely the provision of support for projects, that is, how much funding to allocate to which project, and in accordance with the strategy whose goal is to have a diverse portfolio of films ranging from low-budget to high-budget, from documentaries or animated to feature films, making sure that we have all approaches, from unconventional or in other words creative and artistic projects to popular ones, and all the while making sure that we also have a good representation of debut directors who we also encourage to be creative and free... We want to be sure of quality and variety, but we also want to make sure that we have a gender balance and make sure that people start being more inclusive and more supportive of diversity... We also want to bring back the support and popularity that European film had in the past, and by which we are rethinking our present day for the better future, in addition to providing a contribution to everything we talked about, and among other things to improve the ways of distributing films and marketing them to the audience, strengthen an environmentally conscious approach to the film industry, as well as new co-productions... We want to reconsider where we are currently and which way we want to continue and in what way... We also have a cinema support program within which we want to review and introduce the representation of the films we have supported...
European film is a signpost that we should follow
We often talk about the importance of movies, what is the position and importance of movies today?
It's always a super interesting and important question that I like to answer, but it's also very difficult to give a short and concise answer... Eurimaž is part of a large organization called the Council of Europe, that is, that segment of the Council of Europe whose goal is the promotion of human rights , democracy and the rule of law, which sounds very abstract... I actually think it's a higher level, and that the primary goal of Eurimages is actually making films and supporting film projects that represent individual voices... Films challenge and stimulate, often entertain us , and there are also those that we believe are currently not being watched as much as they should be, because they may be repugnant to the interests of certain groups. I think that all this contributes to a healthy society, but not to countries, because we often have films that people talk about and stimulate each other, perhaps to take some action later, or it opens the eyes, offers a view through the eyes of different Europeans... That's why I think that Hollywood types blockbusters are not what a potential viewer should decide for, but that European film is a roadmap that we should follow in order to promote openness, cooperation, discussion and dialogue...
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