13/06/2012 - STEP IN is to improve distribution, exhibition, and sales for European auteur films. This test run aims to find solutions to increase diffusion in Central and Eastern Europe.

The Industry Days, the Locarno Film Festival's gathering for film and audiovisual professionals, are to undergo a small revolution this year. From August 4 to 6, twelve major film exhibitors and distributors from Central and Eastern Europe will take part in its very first STEP IN. It's an ambitious programme that intends to encourage professionals to try out new paths of commercial collaboration to re-boost interest in European film, in a region where its distribution appears to have become particularly worrying.

According to Nadia Dresdi, head of the Industry Office at the event, the Locarno film festival wanted to react to "the urgent issues linked to European cinema's diffusion". Hence the idea to create a perennial event to address all the thorny issues linked to European auteur film distribution and sales, and to find concrete solutions to these. After it was developed in collaboration with the Cicae, Europa Distribution, Europa International, Festival Scope, and Film New Europe, the initiative immediately received the necessarily precious support of the MEDIA programme.

Exhibitors and distributors invited to Locarno will talk to international sales agencies to find a new common approach to marketing and diffusing European films in the countries where they work. In order to meet the final goal of concrete proposals, an atelier, a roundtable (on the state of the market in the concerned region), and individual meetings will allow different levels of interaction between participants.

A selection of works from Central and Eastern Europe will also be presented during the three Industry Days.