We met with Nadia Cortellessa, one of the programmers who took part in the workshop on “festival identity” on 29 October, as organised by the Ji.hlava International Documentary Film Festival. Cortellessa spoke about her work for the Naples’ NaNo Film Festival, the main themes tackled in the workshop, and the challenges involved in attracting younger audiences.

Cineuropa: How did you come to work for the NaNo Film Festival? What else are you responsible for, besides organising the event?
Nadia Cortellessa: Like many of my colleagues in the sector, I started out by studying photography and film, but it was only a few years later that I found out what it really meant to be able to work in the film industry. My passion for cameras led to me making many other connections, and the most significant of all of them, without a doubt, is the collaboration which came about with NaNo Film. I went from being an occasional collaborator to slowly integrating a small team composed of hard-workers who dream big, and NaNo Film became an "incubator" for different activities: we went from being straightforward filmmakers to becoming a production company, we created the NaNo Film Festival and now we also manage training, podcasts and other digital media via NaNo Film+. The NaNo Film Festival was born out of a challenge: "Could we be one of the best festivals in the region?". I couldn’t say whether or not we’ve succeeded to date, but now that we’re preparing for our sixth edition, I’m convinced that this festival which originated as a short film gathering is becoming increasingly international. In addition to screenings of selected shorts, we place special focus on documentary feature films and organise dedicated Q&As with their directors; we arrange masterclasses and round tables with experts from the film and festival industries from Italy and beyond, and we also ensure the NaNo Film Festival is a place of cultural interest, hosting exhibitions, concerts, live podcasts, slam poetry and book signings.

Who led the workshop? What were the main themes you explored?
In Jihlava, I got the opportunity to take part in a workshop on “festival identity” delivered by Paul Rieth, an audience design expert. The workshop is mainly aimed at programmers like us, and artistic directors from international festivals. By using a variety of case studies, we got to reflect on the activities we carry out during our events so as to analyse the different audience segments involved and to understand who to target and how in successive editions.

Over the course of the workshop, we took turns analysing our festivals’ strengths and weaknesses, placing an emphasis from the outset on potential aspects to improve in terms of our presence and representativeness. Almost all of us agreed on the difficulties involved in drawing in young Gen Z audiences or even younger viewers, since the way they use media changes continuously and at great pace. Many of the colleagues I spoke to tend to respond to the problem by taking action vis-a-vis children of different age brackets, to get the new generations used to a certain type of audiovisual product. But it’s still a burning issue: how can we really go about adapting to the needs of new generations? How can we do so without altering our identities as festivals operating in a specific sector? Unfortunately, the time dedicated to this workshop wasn’t really on our side, because we was over halfway through the session before we really got to the heart of the matter. Either way, it was challenging to close with a question, which has now given rise to other reflections, which have continued in private or in different settings.

What did you learn?
It’s hard to summarise what I really learned from the workshop. Much like in other situations, there are still so many questions over how we can optimise our efforts to attract a certain kind of audience, but maybe that’s the point. I think that the meaning of “festival identity” can be found by comparing ourselves to others: for a young festival like ours, learning and taking inspiration from what other European festivals have been doing for years is a huge opportunity. I think the same also goes for more long-term, well-established events. Sometimes, comparing yourself with a festival which is just starting out can be a source of unprecedented inspiration or provide unexpected keys to understanding your own festival.