Day 3 of the Bologna Lab picked up where Day 2 left off. With young audiences still in mind, the morning session focused on the success and significance of classic and repertory films in creating opportunities for interactive marketing and engagement, and in bringing multi-generational audiences to the big screen. The afternoon sessions then addressed the more challenging implications of programming, concerning politics and ethics, with a focus on the use of AI in exhibition.
Keynote: Timeless Cinema
Classic, archive and repertory films are having a boom moment, but locating and negotiating the rights clearances isn’t so simple. “Year on year, especially over the last decade, the figures for classic films are on the rise,” Vuchot said. It’s a resurgence driven by online catalogues such as Letterboxd, as well as a rise in restorations and cine-clubs. But localisation and the mystery of locating film rights can act as hurdles; Timeless Cinema offers a practical solution to a shared problem. Timeless Cinema is an online portal that aims to connect exhibitors with distributors and other independent rights holders for classic films. In the morning’s keynote presentation, Leslie Vuchot explained how Timeless Cinema operates to bridge the gap between film rights’ holders and exhibitors. While repertory films tend to refer to films 20 years or older, the Timeless Cinema database includes films as recent as 10 years old. The portal enables film programmers to discover and book films, whilst operating as a showcase for distributors, allowing them to set their own terms to negotiate and deliver on. The ethos behind the portal is to make it easier for both exhibitors and rights holders – negotiation and conversation are not removed from the transaction, but time and resource can be saved through centralisation, especially for industry who cannot travel to festivals and meet distributors and sales agents face-to-face. There is no membership or access fee for exhibitors or rights holders; Timeless take a percentage from either the box office or the flat fee if that was negotiated.
Back to the classics
In Vienna, Stadtkino have adopted a concept Yorck Kinogruppe in Berlin created called Classic Sneak. Presented by Letterboxd, Classic Sneak is a monthly screening programme of ‘surprise’ classic films. Ticket holders know nothing about what they will see, other than that it will not be a horror film and, and the language / subtitling. Even the pre-screening introduction is elusive, with the reveal happening live on screen as the film begins. What’s important for Stadtkino, in their programming choices, is to maintain their three pillars of programming: feminist perspectives, international diversity, and youth appeal. Having such a clear and strong identity as a cinema means their audience trust them with the surprise concept. Launched in partnership with Letterboxd, the cinema also optimises user reviews on their own Letterboxd HQ and other social media platforms. This increases followers and drives engagement. In this way, they are able to combine community building and interactive marketing with their post-screening evaluation and feedback collection.
For Cineteatro Buonarroti, where their major demographic is aged 65+, the Back In series of classic films presents iconic titles that their younger audiences may not have previously seen. When they first launched, the films were accompanied by information sheets but, Francesco Scappini said, this soon became a literal calling card for their cinema, as it developed into collectable discovery cards. A literal cultural takeaway as well as an incentive to keep audiences coming back, the postcards have proved hugely popular. Now, Cineteatro Buonarroti are building participatory events around their films that include specialised introductions that really engage youth audiences, who then bring their friends, building new audiences. Scappini cited the Cineteca’s programme as being key for them to access quality titles and materials, all of which is bringing different audiences together, “In that moment, the film becomes a meeting point between generations. This is exactly what we want for our cinema.”
In Romania, Cinema Timiş focus on classic programming in two very distinct and effective ways: Timeless Timiş is for international classics, which often chime with events or anniversaries, as well as the cinema’s own new release programming, while Cinemateca Itinerantǎ quite literally pulls Romanian cinema out of the archive and puts it back onscreen. Working in partnership with the National Romanian Archive, they present films from the 1950s to the 1990s. A mix of films everyone already knows and more niche titles, the monthly screenings often connect the films with other relevant events such as such as International Women’s Day. Diana Caducenco also talked about how their work with local influencers helps engage new audiences.
Politics in programming
Curating beyond entertainment, politics has its place in arthouse cinema, which, as a cultural space, is already inherently political. Located in the small town of Kongsberg, which a town where the defence industry is not just a local employer, but part of the identity of the city. Hoping to cater to audiences who want blockbusters and more challenging arthouse films. Even Thunes Jensen programmes politically sensitive films, but in Kongsberg, the politics are personal and emotional as well as social, and economic. Criticism of the industry does not land as an abstract argument in a town that in economically steeped in weapons and oil. “We rely on the very structures we feel a responsibility to challenge,” Thunes Jensen said, explaining how not showing WWII films where the Norwegian military are involved (in production, distribution and marketing), would render their cinema financially unviable. Local press and government are heavily involved, too: “Controversies reflect real community tensions, emphasising challenges are experienced, not hypothetical.” Staying true to his commitment to cultural programming, however, Thunes Jensen is resolute: “Conflict doesn’t begin when people disagree, it begins when trust breaks down… Institutional responses to controversial issues can either deepen divisions or foster dialogue and understanding. Even silence is a form of programming.” The events belong not only to the cinema, he said, but to the people, too. “If cultural spaces refuse tension then they become irrelevant.”
Antonella Croci from CinéMagenta63 – Institut français Milano works both to independent cinema principles and with the Institut français’ own mission to promote French language and culture. For Croci, justice is a topic that nobody wants to talk about. Left and right wing politics aside, justice has become a widespread taboo. A film that deals with this issue directly, Je verrai toujours vos visages (All Your Faces) had not been released in Italy, despite Italy being one of the biggest markets for French films. Rather than shying away from the topic, Croci invited a guest speaker and built a profile around the film, including an extended bibliography on restorative justice to keep the conversation going.
Mathias Ruthner then presented Øst for Paradis Denmark’s initiative Grøn Bio. The aim of this project, whilst clearly centring on Green sustainability is also to transform the cinema into a ‘community centre’ with talks, debates, and workshops accompanying their monthly screenings. Collaborating with local, regional and national organisations, they have expanded tehir core audience, released specialised books and even toured the countryside to see agriculture. Their events are full sold out over 80 per cent of the time, and has even inspired them to addressing their own cinema carbon footprint. The events are very popular and engage new communities.
At Cinema Galeries in Beglium, curation and activisim go hand in hand. “If attendance is declining, maybe the people don’t see themselves in what you’re programming,” Frédéric Cornet said, explaining how they work directly with the communities they are allies with. They have a cineclub to celebrate African and African decendents’ art and culture, programmed and produced by someone from the community. Their events often have Q&As following the screenings, and sometimes the Q&A is solely for the community represented on screen. Cinema Galeries did receive some backlash, Cornet says, but that the key learning from it was more around the Comms for the event than the event itself. They also work with sex workers on the programming of sex worker narratives (sex work is protected in Belgium); host a porn film festival and have experienced growth not decline: “Sometimes you don’t dare to do things,” Cornet said, “but the numbers are there.” Upholding their community driven inclusive values, along with the arrival of Cineville in Belgium, has increased their cinema admissions significantly. A truly inclusive outlook, Cornet said they always speak in support of others: “We see you, we’re with you, we support you.”
AI ethics and its everyday use
Where politics are concerned, so too are ethics and actions. Many cinemas are already using AI – whether that’s for streamlining administration or workflow processes or in bigger ways to manage scheduling, translations and marketing. Giovanni Scala, the Parliamentary Assistant at the European Parliament, and AI expert, presented some of the unseen ways in which the development and use of AI can be deeply unethical against both the planet and its people. However, for Scala, “The question is not whether AI is good or bad, but who shapes it, and how we choose to participate.”
In Estonia, at Cinema Artis, Raiko Puust uses AI as a helpful marketing tool. Using AI to better understand films before creating campaigns, Puust has it generate audience profiles, presented as a breakdown of key demographics, including age, gender, income, education, values and mindset. AI can also build a list of marketing actions, dividing them into two columns for free/low cost initiatives (such as social media and e-newsletters, cross promotion and community partnerships) and paid/sponsored actions (including paid advertising and event add-ons). “Each small improvement or optimisation works towards building big results over time,” Puust said, especially where attracting new audiences through special events and diverse programming is concerned: “The goal is not finding the perfect audience. The goal is understanding your cinema better every year.”
Daniel Krátký from Kino Svět in the Czech Republic uses AI as a time-saving tool. Important notes for Krátký include describing the problem in plain language, having the AI create the system for optimisation that can be used offline which keeps personalised or privileged data unseen by the programme. Krátký also uses AI to assist with the weekly programme scheduling, which it will draft based on preferences fed in, availing Krátký of creating the programme, which he now only needs to edit.
Julia Rudas presented her AI-developed project as a case study for how AI can be used for innovation. Built out of a frustration at with the lack of information on films screening in Florence, Rudas created Che C’è (which translates as ‘What’s up?’) a website interface that collects showtimes from 15 arthouse cinemas as well as multiplexes across the city, providing easy to browse key information such as title, screening time, run time, movie poster and whether or not the film will be subtitled or dubbed. Working solo on the project, however, soon became unsustainable and led Rudas to try ChatGPT to automate certain manually demanding tasks such as collecting, transferring and formatting data. Rudas later engaged with Claude and considers both AIs to be “thinking partners” or “tireless colleagues”. Her key learnings to date include 1) remembering that almost anything is possible, 2) that AI has a tendency to please / rely on a self-congratulatory loop, 3) not all AIs are equal, and 4) that a thinking, feeling human remains a non-negotiable project manager. Rudas would like to upscale the project and is constantly iterating to improve the site and iron out bugs – which she says she does in consultation and collaboration with AI, of course.
Day 3 closed with a definite sense that workflows and some specific problems can be alleviated through the use of AI, so long as the person using it maintains their humanity and oversight. Knowing and holding a political or ethical line is important for building trust among audiences and communities. Where things get challenging, collaboration and conversation are key – tensions may rise, but silence and a refusal to engage won’t help. As Thunes Jensen said, “If not the cinema, then where should these conversations happen?”