The first day of the Bologna Audience Development and Innovation Lab began as any archive, classic and repertory film festival should: with reflections on the past. As Il Cinema Ritrovato celebrates its 40th anniversary, Europa Cinemas celebrates its 20th edition of the Bologna Lab. Two very important celebrations that remind us of how we must continue to reflect on our experiences in the past in order to create and collaborate for the future.
Thibault Desmoulin (Executive Coordinator Creative Europe/MEDIA, Europa Cinemas) welcomed the participants to this year’s Lab, noting the significance of both the festival and the lab’s legacies. Reflecting on impressions of the festival and the lab from earlier years, Desmoulin spoke about how the community that rally around the festival come together to form its beating heart. Desmoulin then introduced Gian Luca Farinelli, CEO of Cineteca di Bologna, who spoke about how the festival and Europa Cinemas belong to the same community working for and about cinema, united by the understanding of cinema and cinemas as “a place of resistance.” “The festival,” Farinelli said, “has always been a place for meeting: people, thoughts, and ideas.” Emerging as a place for film historians and archive professionals to meet, the community widened over the years to include more and more film exhibitors. A dream for the festival, also, exhibition has always been at the centre of its mission, their long-standing vision of a dream theatre finally coming to life in 2023 with the opening of Cinema Modernissimo. The lab is also a place where dreams meet experimentation, Farinelli said, becoming activities to take into theatres, and to audiences. Audiences, Farinelli emphasised, is where cinema lives: eavesdropping as they exit auditoriums, Farinelli loves to learn about audience tastes and sensibilities. Every week, he said, he guesses how many people will attend their screenings, and he is rarely wrong! But, on those rare occasions when he doesn’t get it right, he is still pleased, he said, because the surprising moments are also the ones where we learn something.
Following the official welcome, the Lab leaders – Wiktoria Pelzer, Frédéric Cornet and Fabio Zenadocchio – and the Europa Cinemas team – Mathilde Narros, Noémie Levadoux, Salomé Monnet and Isabela Didonna Valverde – introduced themselves and the programme for the following four-and-a-half days. The participants then each introduced their cinemas, balancing something they are proud of with something they would like to improve.
Getting to know each other
Bon Alog & Igné Smilingyté from Kino Centres Garsas in Lithuania were first to present, proud of their cinema’s long history and loyal audience but highlighting a significant need to work on their brand identity, which is currently in flux. Comms more widely, spanning issues around visibility due to an obscured façade – such as that of the CinéMagenta63 – Institut français Milano which Antonella Croci spoke about – and overdue website improvements (for Kino Muranów in Poland, Lumiere Maastricht in the Netherlands and Pop Up Cinema Bologna), were also clear challenges. Similarly, issues around design experience and atmosphere – both inside and outside the auditorium spanning everything from projection, heating and cooling systems and auditorium seating to foyer signage and improved café/bar facilities – were repeatedly raised, by Kino Hraničař in the Czech Republic, Cinema Don Bosco in Italy, Cinema ZED Leuven Belgium, Artis in Estonia, Kongsberg Kino Norway and even Cinema The Pulse Amsterdam who, despite only being open for one year, are still working to achieve a cosy environment that will encourage their audience to stick around after the credits roll. Though some issues feel insurmountable – when the building is owned by an unengaged third party, for example, or is a shared space with other cultural institutions or activities – there are ways in which marketing and comms strategies can help, something the Lab will address on Day 4 through a specific focus on Collaborative Thinking, Collaborative Working.
Accessibility was also on the agenda with Kino Pałacowe in Poland who are the project co-ordinator for the Cinema Without Barriers Collaborate to Innovate funded project, interested in how they can go even further in their mission to be inclusive, accessible and to welcome diverse audiences. But perhaps the biggest item on the agenda – and one which this Lab will directly address on Day 2 with its focus on Community Building and Dedication to Young Audiences – was how to welcome, engage and develop young audiences.
Other bespoke challenges included: marketing films to wider international audiences in cities where large communities from neighbouring countries or wider student populations could benefit from more films being screened in their original languages, with more subtitling options, including English language; increasing the number of workshops and non-cinema events; wider collaboration with local stakeholders, schools and partner organisations; highlighting lesser known or exhibited filmmakers and films; making use of archive materials that are currently collecting dust; improving outdoor screening events; and attracting more talent for film discussions and Q&As, which across the board is a success story for encouraging audiences out of their homes and into auditoriums.
Perhaps the most heartwarming takeaway from Day 1, however, was that every exhibitor who spoke, talked passionately about their pride in their team, audience and mission: a true testament to the continuity of community power, which is currently thriving, in European arthouse cinemas.