Co-organised by the Transylvania International Film Festival's industry section, Connecting Cottbus and Trieste's When East Meets West (WEMW) the event was meant to be a platform to collect and discuss assessments in Eastern European countries.
Hungary, Poland, the Czech Republic, Slovenia, Latvia and Estonian were not represented at the first session in Cluj but further sessions during Connecting Cottbus and Trieste’s When East Meets West are expected to attract additional participants.
From Eastern Europe the heads of three funds attended the Cluj event; Snezana Maric, the Acting Director of the Film Centre Serbia, Hrvoje Hribar, Head of the Croatian Audiovisual Centre (HAVC) and Anca Mitran, the Acting Manager of the Romanian CNC. Roberto Olla the Eurimages Executive Director was also present.
Other Eastern European participants included Alexandra Strelkova head of promotion at the Slovak Film Institute, theLiana Ruokyte-Jonsson head of promotion and information at the Lithuanian Film Center, Alessandro Gropplero head of international relations at the Friuli Venezia Giulia Audiovisual Fund; Romanian producer Ada Solomon; Bulgarian industry expert Gergana Dakovska and Marketa Hodouskova, general secretary of Film New Europe (FNE) Association, the well-known network made up of the heads of the Central and Eastern Europe film funds and producers associations. Romanian CNC director Anca Mitran has just become the latest film institution helmer to come on board the FNE Association joining as the board member for Romania during Cannes.
Discussions were divided into a closed session of working groups followed by an open discussion session attended by about 30 participants. Policy issues discussed included the Digital Single Market and the specificity of the film industry in smaller countries of Europe and the need for a special focus on this. Representatives of a number of Western film organisations including the Norwegian Film Institute also participated.
The next two sessions of #FEEDBack will take place at the partner festivals in Cottbus and Trieste, with the goal to present the results at the 2016 Berlinale.
