Notebooks were out during the Creative Europe Day at the Odesa International Film Festival (12-20 July), as international experts gathered to crunch numbers and facts, pointing out how to successfully apply for different funding schemes while also finding time to answer some questions – no matter how long. Proceedings began with Ukraine’s Ksenia Kalyna, who provided insight into the local market, and who later gave the floor to Sabina Briski Karlic, head of Creative Europe Desk Slovenia, Hungary’s Adam Paszternak and Kamen Balkanski from Bulgaria – joined for the final discussion by Orest Dabija, head of Creative Europe Desk Media Moldova, and Yulia Fediv, head of Creative Europe Desk Ukraine. All of the participants proudly presented some of their territories’ biggest success stories but also discussed the many challenges faced by low-capacity counties.

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“We don’t have any prejudices in terms of who can apply,” stressed Kalyna at the beginning of the presentation. “You need to have existed as a legal entity for more than two years, and you need to be active in the sector, but not just by having a Facebook page – your work needs to be scalable.” In order to up their chances, the projects should also venture beyond the interest of one country, as the priority is to support the European legacy. International co-operation was underlined as an important part of Creative Europe, as well as exchanging good practice and teaching new skills (ranging from distribution strategies to screenwriting), not to mention providing numerous networking opportunities.

“One of our priorities is to train our sector to be as active as possible on the international level,” added the Slovenian representative, mentioning a co-production from 2016. “[We are in Odesa] so I think you all know about Ukrainian Sheriffs [+leggi anche:
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scheda film]. This film’s crew was joined by the Slovenian Institute for Transmedia Design as a co-producer. After the movie was released, they created an online distribution campaign. It was the first successful example from the region.” Another promising initiative? The market access platform CEE Animation, which – as quoted by Karlic – team leader of the TV programming, audience and innovative approaches sector for Creative Europe MEDIA Sabine Minniti described enthusiastically as “the awakening of the force”. “These initiatives are able to cross borders; they are boosting people’s skills and competitiveness,” mentioned Karlic. She also admitted that for all the opportunities out there waiting to be seized, some remain out of reach for emerging filmmakers, with younger producers struggling to get all the necessary references.

Adam Paszternak from Hungary, a country that has already established itself as a sought-after location for the biggest US blockbusters, from The Martian to Blade Runner 2049 [+leggi anche:
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scheda film], underlined the importance of shoring up arthouse distribution – as he experienced first-hand through current or recent examples of breakout films like White God [+leggi anche:
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intervista: Kornél Mundruczó
scheda film], Son of Saul [+leggi anche:
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Q&A: László Nemes
intervista: László Rajk
scheda film] and Jupiter’s Moon [+leggi anche:
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intervista: Kornél Mundruczó
scheda film]. “Without the support, they wouldn’t have been such an international success,” went his summary, before he teased some things to come with the recent example of two video games that, to his surprise, also received support for development: The Myth Seekers and The Missing 99. “We all know about film production, but this is a different story,” he remarked. Perhaps not for long, though.

With Bulgaria soon to celebrate its 16^th anniversary as a member of the MEDIA programme, Paszternak’s colleague Kamen Balkanski shared tips on how to make it even more popular. “At the beginning, we put a lot of energy into events that promoted the programme as a whole,” said Balkanski, discussing the success of the Sofia International Film Festival, now in its 23^rd edition. “Our Italian colleagues are always held up as an example of how many proposals they have. They have 24 festivals applying, but only one or two will be supported! It’s not about the quantity,” he stressed. “It’s important to have quality-based festivals, ones that are not only showing movies, but also doing different things – educational programmes, industry events and so on.”

While remaining open about what is still beyond their reach, all of the participants seemed convinced that there is solidarity within the programme, especially when it comes to smaller countries – particularly as they often find themselves facing very similar problems. “As Sabina mentioned before, we all know each other quite well. It’s easy to meet face to face,” noted Balkanski. But although it’s getting much easier to connect, there is still a lot to do. “Collaborations between our countries are still quite exotic,” said Krulic. “But we are here to change that.”