01/10/2026 - The network’s programme of workshops at the Spanish festival explored audience design, distribution and interprofessional collaboration

At the 2026 edition of the San Sebastián International Film Festival, Europa Distribution gathered twenty-five members of the association for a three-day programme of workshops exploring audience design, distribution and interprofessional collaboration. Taking place from 21 to 23 September, the programme opened with two days devoted to an Audience Design workshop led by Benjamin Cölle, Audience Design Consultant and Trainer, who is currently completing his doctorate on the subject. On the third day, Europa Distribution joined forces with Europa International for the third consecutive year, bringing together distributors and sales agents for roundtable discussions.

The premise underlying the newest workshop organised by Europa Distribution has proved to be increasingly relevant: distribution cannot be viewed simply as the final stage of a film’s journey. Instead, questions about audiences, positioning and release strategies should be considered much earlier, making distribution part of the creative and strategic process of making a film. Over two days, participants explored how films can be developed with their audiences in mind, how different industry professionals can contribute to this process, and how audience thinking can eventually translate into concrete distribution strategies. The workshop combined theory with discussion and practical exercises in groups, focusing particularly on the case studies of Andrea Arnold’s Bird released by Kim Foss from Camera Film in Denmark and Mati Diop’s Dahomey released by Claire Honegger from Filmcoopi in Switzerland.

While introducing the subject, Benjamin Cölle described Audience Design as an “innovative and transformative approach to the development of audience engagement strategies, that has emerged as a response to the evolving challenges faced by independent and arthouse cinema in the contemporary media landscape”. Ideally, Audience Design happens during several moments and accompanies the whole journey of a film. In fact, it is conceived as an iterative process in which goals and strategies evolve as the film itself develops, and it can begin already during script development, continue through post-production, and then be revisited before distribution and release.

For this reason, an important principle that emerged from the workshop was collaboration across the full value chain. Audience design can bring together directors, producers, sales agents, audience consultants and, at different stages, distributors and other professionals involved in the film’s circulation.

The second part of the workshop brought these theoretical ideas into practice through two case studies: Bird and Dahomey. Since both films have already been released, participants, guided by the coach, used their imagination and reconstructed an audience design process that could have taken place earlier in each film’s development. The exercise followed the different stages of the process. First, participants focused on the films themselves: their themes, emotions and values, and the audiences who might connect with them. The objective was not to define one fixed audience, but to develop a clearer understanding of the different audiences and themes that could inform the next steps. The second stage translated these reflections into more concrete elements, including positioning, logline, artwork and festival strategy.

Finally, participants moved towards the third stage, where distributors entered directly into the process and the focus shifted to practical questions of distribution and release. The final exercise divided Europa Distribution members into six small groups working on fictional release strategies of Bird and Dahomey across different territories, using the work done previously with the coach and the rest of the group. The groups focused on the release in six markets including Poland, the Netherlands, Portugal, Belgium, Croatia and Denmark.

Working collectively before moving into territory-specific groups highlighted one of the particular strengths of the Audience Design approach. While there can be no single distribution strategy that works equally across all markets, developing a shared understanding of the film and its potential audiences provides a common starting point. From there, distributors can adapt the approach to the specific cultural context, audience habits, partners and opportunities of their territory. The examples of Bird and Dahomey also showed how positioning, artwork, festival strategy, and release plans can all emerge from a deeper understanding of what a film is, what it communicates and who might connect with it.

For the third day, the topic of Audience Design flowed into the broader discussion of collaboration across the European film industry. Following the success of the pilot edition in 2024, sales agents from Europa International joined Europa Distribution members for the third edition of the interprofessional roundtable discussions. This meeting brought distributors and sales agents together once again to explore new ways of strengthening collaboration between the two sectors. After the participants were divided in 5 groups for discussion, the workshop concluded with a wrap-up session aimed at sharing the key findings and conclusions of each group with the entire audience. Across the discussions, several common themes emerged: the need for improved communication and transparency between sales agents, distributors, and producers and the development of simplified tools and shared data systems for marketing materials and market intelligence. The discussions also underlined the importance of having high-quality materials available throughout the distribution process in an increasingly competitive landscape. Lastly, participants highlighted how support mechanisms can play an important role in helping European films travel and reach audiences.

The conversations in San Sebastian ultimately connected back to the central idea of the audience design workshop: building stronger links across the different stages of the film value chain. By fostering open dialogue among sales agents and distributors, as it does already with exhibitors and producers, Europa Distribution is helping to strengthen the ties between sectors and the understanding of each other to create stronger partnerships, to the benefit of European films reaching audiences. Beyond the San Sebastian meeting, Europa Distribution is continuing its mission to build new bridges across the film industry.

More information and articles can be found on the Europa Distribution website.