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GHENT 2017 Industry

Connext brings together Flemish professionals and international broadcasters

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- Flanders Image takes advantage of Film Fest Gent to organise three days of meetings between Flemish audio-visual professionals and international broadcasters

Connext brings together Flemish professionals and international broadcasters
Tim League during his conference at Connext (© Aurore Engelen)

Flanders Image organised the 2nd edition of Connext running from 8 to 11 October (during the Film Fest Gent), an "export platform" linking Flemish audio-visual professionals with international sellers, distributors and festival programmers. On the program for this meetup were two intense days of pitching, allowing producers and directors to present their current projects, feature films and also TV series. The third day comprised a large panel of international speakers who were invited to share their experiences with producers in order to improve the international marketing of their projects. 

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On the program of this rich day of meetups and reflections was a short overview of the different aspects of audio-visual broadcasting to an international audience. To begin, Flemish professionals met with French festival programmers (Arnaud Gourmelen for the Fortnight and Premiers Plans, Frédéric Boyer for Les Arcs, Alex Masson for Amiens and Patrice Carré from Film Français), who came along to provide an "instruction manual" when planning selections at their festivals. They then turned to the issue of marketing, with Deborah Rowland, consultant for We Are the Tonic, an English company specialising in film distribution and marketing. From defining the target audience to the choice of photos, from the creation of the poster according to the region to the drafting of the synopsis, from audience awareness to the choice of broadcasting network, Deborah Rowland returned to key steps when marketing an auteur film today. 

Meredith Shea then highlighted the ways in which Oscar-nominated films are selected: who votes, what the deadlines are, the selection criteria according to the type of film, and most notably the regulations surrounding films releases in America. 

The professionals who were present were also able to meet with Tim League (Alamo Drafthouse/Fantastic Film Fest/Neon), who came to talk about his experience in the field of cinematographic art and experimentation in the United States. In 1997, Tim League and his wife opened their first cinema in Austin, Texas. A rather special cinema where the audience experience is at the heart of their operation. The couple is more than attentive, and promises customers an experience of impeccable quality in exchange for an active respect for the cinema, by keeping quiet during screenings, for example. The couple pays particular attention to the quality of projections. To give an example, sound installation quality is checked after each projection in their network. Drafthouse now has 29 complexes, and has been experimenting for some time with smaller places - notably 40-seat screens - in order to leave room for a bar which they believe could help prolong discussions about the film at the end of a screening, thus reinforcing the contribution of word-of-mouth to a film's success, but also as a means of organising further screenings. The audience remains at the heart of the experience from the beginning, and is regularly surveyed so that the cinema remains up-to-date with audience expectations, disappointments and satisfaction. 

Tim League was then able to take part in a wider debate on the question of analysing data collected online or live from users, whether in cinemas, or on Internet broadcasting platforms such as MUBI or Fandor, and how this data can have an impact on programming.

From the consideration of marketing theories and the marketing of films, to its distribution at the end of its release on editorialised VoD platforms, the participants of this Connext day of reflection were able to benefit from good practices from various backgrounds, which should inspire them when broadcasting future projects.

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(Translated from French)

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