22 November 2021
Europe's audiovisual, content and tech industries are standing at crossroads. On the surface, it's a time of radical change and realignment. Long into 2021 industry still seems to cope with the effects of the COVID19 pandemic and the crashing of the indie value chain.
On the other hand, as paradoxical it seems, the industry is heading towards unprecedented abundance. New injections of recovery funds and innovation-driven funding, dedicated cashflow support, coupled with excitement in the box office, as well as the maturation of sector-focused innovations and booming streaming - Europe could be heading into the industry renaissance 2.0. The only limit seems to be understanding the audiences, markets, and shifts - and taking bold strategic decisions.
Amidst these fundamental processes, the Creative Europe MEDIA program is evolving as the primary supporter of the European audiovisual industry. The combination of structural changes in the industry and the new terms Creative Europe MEDIA marks the arrival of a new era of opportunities for European storytellers and audiovisual industry entrepreneurs.
The European Film Forum, as a debate and discussion platform on the future evolution of the European audiovisual and content industry, will return to Nordic Hotel Forum on November 22, 2021. EFFT21 will be a half a day executive level hybrid summit of C-level debates, case studies, and showcases on the most pressing topics for the European film, television, and content industry.
Get to know the latest on how to implement strategic foresight with the help of Artificial Intelligence and develop organisational data capacity in the audiovisual and content business. Learn the newest giant leaps in European virtual production and extended reality and experience cutting-edge case studies in production. Meet the hottest founders and startups in European media and film tech.
The European Film Forum is organised by the Tallinn Black Nights Film Festival and Industry Tallinn by the mandate of the European Commission.
#EFFT21 is curated by Sten-Kristian Saluveer, award-winning strategist and venture builder, CEO @ Storytek Innovation & Venture Studio, and Head of NEXT @ Marche Du Film - Festival de Cannes.
Please watch the EFFT2021 here.
15.00 - 15.10 Day Introduction and kickoff by day moderators Sten-Kristian Saluveer, EFFT Curator, CEO, Storytek Innovation & Venture Studio and AC Coppens, CEO, The Catalysts, Germany
15.10-15.15 Introduction by Minister of Culture of Estonia Mr. Tiit Terik, Minister of Culture, Estonia
15.15-15.25 Setting the Stage by the European Commission by Lucia Recalde, Head of Unit, Creative Europe MEDIA, DG Connect, European Commission, Belgium/Spain
15.25-15.50 Session 1: How venture capital can innovate the European film financing landscape? Launch of the new film fund "Tallifornia". + Q&A
With public film funds under pressure in the COVID19 economic downturn, filmmakers are increasingly looking for private financing to keep their productions going. Rain Rannu is an internationally acclaimed venture capital investor, a film director and producer at “Tallifornia” production company, and most recently the CEO of a full venture capital-backed European film fund. The session will discuss the reasons and goals of the fresh fund and mission and goals to back European filmmakers.
Rain Rannu, Investor@Tallifornia, Estonia - onsite
15.50-16.10 How achieve monetizability and sustainability for festivals and hybrid events? Case Study: Votemo
With festivals and industry platforms forced to hybrid production for the foreseeable future, the critical question for festival and market managers becomes how to monetize and reach sustainability in this new reality. Votemo is a cutting edge audience engagement platform that helps festivals, markets, and hybrid events to engage and monetize their audiences taking the quality of the productions to the next level, but also helping organizers to keep revenues in check.
Maarit Mäeveer, Co-Founder, Votemo, Estonia - onsite
16.10-16.30 Using Artificial Intelligence to supercharge film and content production. Case Study: Promomii
PromoMii’s revolutionary Nova A.I. is a proprietary video content Search & Creation platform, developed to introduce time and cost efficiencies for all content owners, users and creators. With Nova A.I., you can find anything in your content and archives at the click of a button and log 70% faster. Faces, words, objects, places. You name it - Nova finds it.
Michael Moss, CEO @ Promomii, Denmark/UK - onlin
16.30-17.20 From Data to decisions: How to build and grow data and AI-driven decision-making capacity in the European film business? Presentations +Q&A
In 2021 Europe sports a vibrant Artificial intelligence and data insights landscape with startups and mature business analytics firms helping to solve pressing questions also for the film and content industry from audience analytics to predicting the box office success of productions. Yet, the bottleneck often seems to be the management and implementation experience of AI and data-driven opportunities, rather than the lack of technology or industry-relevant solutions. The session brings together data and AI innovators, C-level innovation directors and film industry leaders & executives to explore what are the venues for the European industry to harness the power of Data and AI.
Dirk Hoffmann, CEO Founder@Dain Studios, formerly Director of Consumer Analytics @Nokia, Germany-Finland - onsite
Tobias Queisser, CEO@Cinelytic, Germany - onlien
Alexandra Lebret, Managing Director @European Producers Club, France - online
17.30-17.50 Optimizing (European) film production through innovation during COVID and beyond. Case Study: Willco
Willco is a software as a service platform for the whole film production team. With powerful tools helps manage contracts, movements, locations and events in a simple way but maintain total control. Starting as a in-house production tool, Willco is steadily becoming a new European powerhouse supporting major studio productions and independent features including “The Foundation”.
Asia Jarzyna, CoFounder@Willco, Spain - onsite
17.50-18.20 Untackling virtual and remote production: What's the impact for creators, producers, service providers and the industry?
Virtual production has taken the global production landscape by storm evolving in less than two years from high-end novelty to rapidly growing sector with major and independent facilities sprouting up all over Europe, even in lower production capacity countries.
The session will explore the state of VP across the industry from studio runners to VFX powerhouses and immersive producers to explore how the VP industry is maturing, what are the key opportunities unites and pain points, and how and in which capacity productions it can benefit.
Peeter Jalakas, Director and Producer / Acclaimed innovator @ Von Krahl / Estonian Film Cluster, Estonia - onsite
Mikko Kodisoja, Chief Operating Officer @ FireFrame Studios, formerly Co-Founder, Supercell, Finland / or Viktoria Zaiceva, Manager @ Led Unit Studios, Latvia - onsite
Max Pavlov, CEO @ Led Unit Studios, Latvia - onsite
18.20-18.50 What will Virtual Production bring to the Industry. Virtual Production Showcase & Fireside chat with Jannicke Mikkelsen
If Virtual Production erases the borders between the imaginable and previously unimaginable, then what types of creative venues but as well as practical production challenges utilizing VP will bring along. Internationally acclaimed Norwegian film tech pioneer, director of photography and explorer Jannicke Mikkelsen discusses her journey on embracing virtual production for independent film and the future of this technology for European storytellers.
Jannicke Mikkelsen, Cinematographer & Explorer, Norway - online
18.50- Day wrap by conference moderators
19.00 - ...End of European Film Forum 2021
The European Film Forum Tallinn 2021 takes place on 22 November 2021 in Tallinn. You are welcome to join us at Nordic Hotel Forum or online.
The time zone for the schedule is Eastern European Time (EET).
The New Playbook: Resilience, Foresight, Transformation
November 23, 2020 in Tallinn
Watch European Film Forum Tallinn 2020 as catchup here
The year 2020 was been like no other before for the European and the global film industry. The explosive shock, unprecedented in its breadth and impact, has not only imploded the full value chain of cinema but has brought to the forefront the most significant challenges the medium and the industry has faced since its birth – whichever angle one takes.
The European independent sector had witnessed perhaps the hardest, with all but a few significant festivals canceled, productions suspended, and distribution chains are broken with cinemas and audiences coping with on the national lockdown fronts.
From a global perspective, perhaps 2020 had been the best year ever for watching, with accounts showing a tremendous spike in the consumption of audiovisual content and a staggering 79% increase in streaming hours, leading some of the super players to gap the quality of their services.
As paradoxical it might seem, the global COVID epidemic has not derailed the film industry by surprise as many would love to believe, but savagely accelerated the already current transformation processes. For a fact, few players emerging with the bounty while many are jogging dazedly behind.
Thus, the new playbook for a new normal is here – the question is how to define opportunities, strategies, and best practices and transform fast with foresight and resilience before it’s too late.
The European Film Forum, as a debate and discussion platform on the future evolution of European cinema and film industry, returned to Tallinn on November 23, 2020, with a half a day virtual and hybrid summit of executive-level debates, case studies, and showcases on the most pressing topics for the European film, television, and content industry at the time of COVID.
The focus themes of the 2020 edition were:
The European Film Forum 2020 was organized by the Tallinn Black Nights Film Festival and Industry Tallinn by the European Commission's mandate. The summit is curated by Sten-Kristian Saluveer, Head of NEXT @Marche Du Film - Festival de Cannes, and Strategist @ Accelerate Estonia - the moonshot lab powered by The Republic of Estonia to develop solutions for wicked global problems.
Check out the booklet of EUROPEAN FILM FORUM TALLINN 2020
Timetable & Sessions (in EET)
16.00 – 16.10: Opening Words: The European Industry vs. COVID19: Resilience, Alternatives, Opportunities.
Sten-Kristian Saluveer - EFFT Curator, Head of NEXT, MDF - Festival de Cannes
16.10 – 16.20 Opening Keynote by the European Commission Martin Dawson, European Commission
16.20- 16.35 European Cinema and Content Industry vs. the World during the Pandemic.
Ezra Eeman - Senior Manager Digital, Transformation, and Platforms, European Broadcasting Union (EBU)
16.35 – 17.10 Is digital the new theatrical? Exploring the new indie film value chain during transformation
Ezra Eeman - Senior Manager Digital, Transformation, and Platforms, European Broadcasting Union (EBU)
Ewa Puszczyńska - Producer “Cold War”, “Kill It and Leave the Town”, “Quo Vadis, Aida”, Extreme Emotions
Todd Brown - Partner, XYZ Films
17.10 – 17.25 How to reach your audience during a lockdown? The digital marketing playbook for European Films
Birgit Karus - CEO, Noh Productions
17.25 – 18.00 Reimagining the European Film Festival and Industry Market: Crisis or new perspectives?
Vanja Kaludjercic - Festival Director, IFFR
Sabrina Baracetti - Festival Director, Udine Far East FF
Weronika Czolnowska - New Horizons, Head of Industry
18.00 – 18.15 How to (successfully) restart European film production safely? Adrian Wooton - Head, Film London
18.15 – 18.30 European Future Frontieres: The opportunities for Future Infrastructure for European Cinema and Content Industry Philippe Rixhon - Infrastructure Designer, Digiciti Networks, European Future Copyright Infrastructure
18.30 -18.50 Closing Fireside Chat: Leadership for Resilience, Foresight, Transformation.
Robert Wolcott - Adjunct Professor of Executive Education, Co-Founder and Executive Director, Kellogg Innovation Network
18.50 – 19.00 Day Wrap
The European Film Forum is organized by the Tallinn Black Nights Film Festival and Industry Tallinn by the European Commission’s mandate.
Industry (R)Evolution: Debating Tech, Distribution, and Future Talent for European Cinema
November 27, 2019 Nordic Hotel Forum, Tallinn
The European Film Forum, as a debate and discussion platform on the future evolution of European cinema, returned to Nordic Hotel Forum on November 27, 2019, with a one day summit of executive-level debates, case studies, and showcases on the most pressing topics for the European film, television, and content industry.
The forum focused on the latest on Artificial Intelligence and its impact on creativity and filmmaking, bold strategies for future proof talent development, how industry leaders are enabling diversity driven employment in the business, the opportunities in the online creators and IP space, and how Europe’s indie games are making a dent in the world. In addition, the event covered case studies from location-based documentary VR to a selection of Europe’s finest mediatech startups and entrepreneurs.
