Role of international cooperation and festivals in film promotion and distribution
On Thursday, 20 July, the Pula PROfessional Programme continued with the lecture by Jelka Štergel, who presented the Slovenian system of financing and promotion of audiovisual industry.
Jelka Štergel is head of international relations and director of Festival of Slovenian film, and in her lecture she highlighted the possibilities for international producers offered by the Slovenian film system.
She emphasised the importance of cooperation of director and producer in the selection of production strategies, especially strategies relating to financing film. Speaking about the Slovenian system of financing, along with the Slovenian Film Centre and tax deductions for foreign productions, Štergel emphasised the role of Viba Film, Slovenian national film studio, which has a key role in Slovenian productions and co-productions. Slovenia most often works with with production houses in Croatia, Serbia, Italy, Germany, and Bosnia and Herzegovina.
She also highlighted that the interest of Slovenian audiences for Slovenian productions keeps growing year after year, and concluded that investing in promotion of national films has played a key role.
Promotion and distribution of Croatian and European film: experiences and challenges
At the end of the four-day programme section, Pula PROfessional also hosted a panel discussion focusing on experiences and challenges in the promotion and distribution of Croatian and European film.
The guests of the panel discussion were Barbora Ligasova (Czech Film Centre, Czech Republic), Dalibor Matanić (director, Croatia), Igor Saračević (editor, MAXTV Video Store, HT, Croatia), Sandra Perović (editor, RTS, Serbia), Anđela Petković (head of marketing and festival coordinator, Dexin Film, Serbia), Barbara Jukopila (producer, U svom filmu, Croatia), and the moderator was Boško Picula.
Barbora Ligasova presented the Czech system of supporting the audiovisual industry, with emphasis on financial investment in promoting Czech film.
Dalibor Matanić emphasised the role that the Croatian Audiovisual Centre has had in promoting Croatian film over the last few years; and also said that film promotion needs to be worked on from the very start - pre-production, mentioning some of his own experiences.
Igor Saračević, who has been working as editor of MAXTV Video Store for the last seven years, emphasised the position of VOD market in Croatia and the region. He highlighted the fact that the quality of MAXTV is largely due to HT being a partner of key film festivals in Croatia for a number of years.
Sandra Perović said that Croatian films have seen great success in Serbia over the last years, emphasising Sonja and the Bull, The Constitution, and The Priest’s Children. She added that elaborate promotion strategies for these films certainly assisted in their success. Perović also said that the audience is key for the success of the film and the development of the reputation of the crew.
Anđela Petković announced the changes that the distributers are to expect in the future, emphasising the Digital Single Market Act.
Barbara Jukopila spoke about her experiences in film promotion and distribution, emphasising the always important judgement by the producer and the choice of marketing strategy, which needs to be in line with the type of the audiovisual project.
