?? CresCine & Nostradamus Team Up for Cannes!

???? Cannes is just around the corner, and CresCine is gearing up with a lineup of exciting events! Don't miss out – RSVP today, and we hope to see you there.

?? In this issue:

??? Check out CresCine @Cannes/Marche du Film’s programme, including our State of the Industry first yearly report!

?? Get a peek into our Media Industries roundtable + key insights presented in London

?? Quantifying the global film festival circuit: access the in-depth article

???? CresCine’s Event in Croatia 15th Small Cinemas Conference reveals 2 Keynote lecturers

1. CresCine Takes Cannes 2024 by Storm!

2. Highlights from CresCine @Media Industries Conference at King's College London

3. CresCine in PLOS ONE: Quantifying the global film festival circuit

4. Meet the experts: Keynote speakers for CresCine's upcoming event at the 15th Small Cinemas Conference in Croatia!

1. CresCine Takes Cannes 2024 by Storm!

This May, CresCine is set to dazzle the Croisette at the Marché du Film - Festival de Cannes and the 2024 edition of the Festival de Cannes.

For four action-packed days, we’ll be hosting exclusive events, one-on-one meetings, and launching our inaugural State of European Film report giving you the best market insights on audiovisual industries in small European territories. This report will further offer a bird’s eye view of our key work and insights gathered throughout the past year.

If you’re in Cannes or interested in gaining access to our latest insights that could elevate your business, organization, or funding, don’t hesitate to check out and RSVP for our dedicated events listed below.

Mark your calendars for May 20th for the Marche Du Film’s Insights Day. The venerable Nostradamus Report and CresCine will team up at 10:00 on the Main Stage at the Palais des Festivals for a half-day marathon on the insights and state of global and European film and audiovisual industries.

Here are some of our key events:

• ???? Meet the Global Film Financing Innovators and Funds (apply via Cannes Next website)

Saturday, May 18th, 10:00 - 11:30, The Viewpoint, Palais des Festivals

• ?? CresCine Reception & Rendez Vous at Cannes Next 2024 | Network with Financiers, Producers and Business Insights Pros

Monday, May 20th, 11:30 - 12:15, The Viewpoint, Palais des Festivals

• ?? Discover Future Trends and Power Players of Film and Content Financing

Sunday, May 19th, 2024, 10:00 - 11:00, Palais Stage, Palais des Festivals

• ?? Near Future Retreat Closed Think Tank - Does a sustainable future need independence - if so, what skills are required? (by invitation only)

Monday, May 20th, 2024, 16:00 - 19:00, Cannes Next Innovation & VP Pavilion, Pantiero

We look forward to seeing you at the Croisette!

Team CresCine

RSVP Today!

2. CresCine Roundtable @Media Industries Conference Highlights: Audiences and Challenges for Small Markets

Facing the tsunami: some health markers

• Post-Covid, post-SAG Aftra crash with no recovery in sight
• The US strikes having a tremendous impact globally down the value chain up to the service production and outsourcing levels - no one has money except talent agencies
• A big wave of productions ready to "go" - momentum of "content flood" at festivals and markets, extreme screen time competition
• Tough selling for content from small countries means significantly less buying of rights.
• Layoffs, layoffs, and more layoffs (see Evan Shapīro )

Producer-centric > Audience-centric

• Users spend approximately 7 hours with video & media content daily in the US/EU (Activate, Ofcom, Media Outlook)
• It takes 350 years for an European to watch all EU titles on a streamer (colloquial)?YouTube + Tiktok (add Twitch, Snap) de facto the new "airwaves" + they are free!
• Fast growing fast
• We're past the tipping point from Producer-centric value chain to Audience centric value chain

Uncertain future for small markets

• Discrepancy between market reality & policy reality
• You can't be a jack of all trades although your policymakers (might) want it (internal vs. external success, creative vs. box office, theatrical vs. streaming)
• Tax/outsourcing models challenged (due to global downturn)
• Less money across the whole domain (post-COVID, geopolitics, inflation)
• The disjunction between the image of industry vs. internal uncertainty
• Collaboration between SMEs and corporates in baby steps though this is where the money lies (Media Outlook)

• Ideological vs. pragmatic considerations re: streaming and platforms unsolved
• Very little non-public capital is available in small markets, but there may be little investable content.
• Is Gen Z, as the core of the society in +5 years, heard and integrated into the AV policy?
• Skills as key elements for sustainability and resilience are not prioritized
• Hence, industry skillsets are inadequate for sustainable performance in market conditions (see case of financing).

Audiences' attitudes towards films produced in their own markets

• Audiences were self-conscious about their biases towards domestic film and knowledgeable about domestic films' achievements/acclaim;
• Audiences' are conscious of small film markets challenges (i.e.limited budgets, limited range of creatives, a perceived need for mass-market appeal, a sense of low production value, little offer in 'expensive' genres)
• However, they find value in them nonetheless - especially in terms of relatability/ locally-rooted stories and representation, but also in regards to 'Fomo' when a domestic film becomes part of the national conversation
• This shows the importance of social factors for choosing domestic film and perhaps it is easier to achieve this kind of 'buzz' in the smaller markets, but it requires visibility in the first place
• Adaptations of local (popular) culture and the use of well-known talent are strong motivators for domestic audiences.
• Audiences' selection processes are complex and often require multiple exposures, which means domestic films have to achieve visibility across multiple channels
• The visibility of domestic film may be challenged by limited marketing or lacking presence on international platforms

Keep an eye out for more Media Industries nuggets on our social media !

3. CresCine in PLOS ONE: Quantifying the global film festival circuit: Networks, diversity, and public value creation

CresCine researchers Vejune Zemaityte, PhD , Ulrike Rohn and Indrek Ibrus , together with Cultural Analytics Scholar Andres Karjus and Professor for Cultural Data Analytics Maximilian Schich performed a large-scale analysis of over 600 film festivals worldwide, spanning 13 years, to reveal insights into diversity and public value creation in the film industry now published in PLOS One.

Here is what Vejune says about the work:

?? We model festivals as a global network connected by shared films to learn about their structure and dynamics. Results show that the festival network is highly interconnected and operates on a clear temporal rhythm where programming overlaps primarily between festivals 1-2 years apart.

?? We quantify festivals as aggregates of their films’ metadata (genre, origin country, language), placing events across continuous latent spaces for each characteristic. Such mapping allows us to identify 5 thematic/genre festival clusters, including general (drama), documentary, genre (horror, sci-fi, etc), queer, and children’s festivals, highlighting the diverse range of programming specialisation within the circuit.

?? We also identify 4 broad geographic festival sub-circuits focused on content from Europe, North America, Asia, and Latin America, and 5 linguistic festival groups featuring content in English, Spanish, French, a mix of European languages, and a mix of Asian languages. The festival circuit's high geographic and linguistic content diversity separates it from other forms of film distribution, such as theatrical or VOD, that are dominated by English-language content from the US.

?? The latent space embedding approach also enables us to quantify diversity in festival programming. We measure the internal, external, and contributing diversities of A-list festivals accredited by FIAPF and B-list events (others). Festivals (especially the B-list) became more thematically diverse between 2012-21. Yet, the circuit’s geographic diversity based on film origin decreased starkly during COVID-19 (in both A- and B-list).

?? We also examine gender diversity in film festivals based on directors and producers of programmed films. Most festivals are gender-imbalanced (but B-list events are slightly more diverse). Yet, we see progress towards gender inclusion as the share of women creatives in programming increases between 2012-21.

?? We hope the methodologies showcased in this paper will be valuable for not only researchers but also industry professionals and policymakers: i.e., to track diversity across various dimensions, identify areas for improvement in programming practices, or inform funding decisions aimed at promoting cultural diversity in the film industry.

Read the full paper here .

4. Exciting Update! 15th Small Cinemas Conference Keynote Lecturers Announced

?? We're thrilled to announce our first keynote speaker, Prof. Katharine Sarikakis , from the University of Vienna!

Prof. Sarikakis leads the 'sister' project REBOOT, funded under the same Horizon Europe Call as CresCine. Learn more about REBOOT and connect with them on social media here.

?? Stay tuned for Prof. Sarikakis's keynote lecture, titled: 'The urgent beauty of small spaces: success and competitiveness of the European film industry'.

?? Additionally, we're excited to welcome Prof. Petr Szczepanik from Charles University, Prague, as our second keynote lecturer! Author of 'Screen Industries in East-Central Europe', Prof. Szczepanik will explore the geography of the streaming economy, focusing on East-Central Europe as a Digital Periphery.

Keep an eye out for more details and updates on the website .

Consortium