PRO OTOK 2023
Events for film professionals and others interested in the film’s journey from idea to screen and beyond.
Manzioli Palace, Izola, Slovenia
THURSDAY, 8.6.2023
10.00–13.00
Practical steps for sustainable cultural events
Workshop with practical solutions that cultural organisations can use to make their practices more sustainable at a time of climate crisis. In collaboration with Motovila, Centre for the Promotion of Cooperation in the Cultural and Creative Sectors, and Umanotera, The Slovenian Foundation for Sustainable Development.
This is the third year that Motovila and Kino Otok are collaborating in public discussions about the green transition and sustainability. Motovila aims to encourage a change of practice in cultural organisations, so that sustainability becomes a factor they consistently and fully integrate in their programme planning and execution, as well as their day-to-day running. Meanwhile, Kino Otok has stepped up its efforts to reduce its environmental impact by committing to measures to prevent and reduce waste, becoming the first film-related event in Slovenia to receive the Ecologists Without Borders’ zero waste certificate.
In collation with Umanotera, we are organising a workshop to analyse the current situation and devise concrete guidelines for more sustainable practices in the region of Slovenian Istria. In part I, we will look into why it is essential to discuss sustainable development in culture, while part II will invite participants to discuss the existing and desired practices in local cultural organisations, and the challenges they face. Possible measures will be explored to produce concrete solutions for greener practices. A summary of the key findings will be communicated to the public and local- and national-level decision-makers.
The workshop will be in Slovene and is for representatives of cultural and creative organisations (public and private) and local communities considering a move towards more sustainable practices. Admission is free, but please book your spot by 5 June 2023 at pro@isolacinema.org or info@motovila.si.
FRIDAY, 9.6.2023
10.00–14.00
Cinema programming
A meeting of the Slovenian Art Cinema Association (AKMS)
Which films to programme? When? On which screen? For whom? Do we invite the director? … The Slovenian Art Cinema Association meeting will focus on the commonly ignored art of cinema programming. An insight into this blend of craft and creative skill that results in quality programme at your nearest arthouse cinema will be provided through presentations of local and international good practice examples, case studies, and by broadening the horizons with everything that is not cinema but could still end up on the big screen.
12.30–14.00
Viviana Carlet, Piattaforma Lago: The role and unexplored possibilities of programming short films in art cinemas contexts
Presentation and discussion as part of AKMS meeting
Short films can be used as a tool for reading contemporary life and stimulating an active interaction with the audience, as a work of art on its own and as a means of stimulating debate and dialogue. Through examples of good practice, one can understand how to create programmes of short films and how to use programming to reach new targets – short films have greater malleability and facility than feature films to create thematic and dedicated screenings for different audiences.
Which partners can support art cinemas on developing strategies, researching films, and screening fees, making contacts and partnerships, creating a dialogue with directors and distributors, and maintaining the quality of programming?
How can art cinemas programming benefit from collaboration with film festivals in order to stimulate dialogue with local communities, build new connections with children and families, and create a new culture of cinema-going?
The event will be in Slovene and English. Free admission.
15.00–16.30
Cinema as a litmus test or catalyst of society?
Round table with the festival’s international guests
The making and public screening of auteur films is inevitably informed by the current social and historical context. This makes developments in society a more or less vital factor in the creative film production process, as well as the films’ exhibition and audience reception. What is the social role of auteur cinema in Europe today? Is cinema a litmus test for significant social change, or is it a catalyst that accelerates it? How important are these considerations for film and festival professionals, if at all? And who in the public sphere should be interested in getting answers?
The guests of the round table will be the director of the film Natura Matti Harju, the director of the film The Life and Strange Surprising Adventures of Robinson Crusoe Who Lived for Twenty and Eight Years All Alone on an Inhabited Island and Said It Was His Benjamin Deboosere and film critic and the Festival of Migrant Film and Kino Otok – Isola Cinema Programme Board member Petra Meterc.
Chaired by Nadina Štefančič. The event will be in English. Free admission.
SATURDAY, 10.6.2023
11.00–12.30
Masterclass Debora Vrizzi: Cinematographic language through artistic research
Debora Vrizzi is a video artist and director of photography. She graduated from the Academy of Fine Arts in Bologna and over the time developed a deep interest in cinema and video art. In 2006, she graduated in Photography from the Experimental Cinematography Center in Rome.
Currently, her research encompasses video art, cinema, and documentaries. She works as a cinematographer and exhibits her art works nationally and internationally in museums, galleries, and festivals. She pursues and combines two passions, cinema, and contemporary art, which enables her to elaborate a cinematographic language through artistic research with more experimental elements. Among the film projects she worked on as a cinematographer, some have participated in Cannes, Toronto, Venice, and the Berlinale. Amongst the recent titles, where she participated as the director of photography, is he Man Without Guilt, a fiction feature directed by Ivan Gergolet (Slovenia, Italy, Croatia, 2022).
The event will be in English. Free admission.
In collaboration with the Sergio Amidei International Prize for Best Screenplay film festival from Gorizia (Italy), the cross-border film festival Homage to a Vision (Gorizia, Nova Gorica), and The Days of Light international film festival from Spilimbergo (Italy). Together with Isola Cinema, the new regional network focuses on film photography and cinematographic language through organising meetings with directors of photography and film screenings and was created with a view to the European Capital of Culture 2025 in Nova Gorica (Slovenia) and Gorizia (Italy).
15.00–16.30
Short Scene at Isola Cinema
Presentation and discussion
‘Short Scene’ is an intensive 6-month workshop to learn about the theory and practice of screenwriting, develop one’s idea, and write a screenplay for a short film. Now in its eighth edition, this is the second time the workshop is under way in an upgraded, updated format, but the first time it is organised by the Directors’ Guild of Slovenia in collaboration with the Slovenian Film Centre and in partnership with the Society for short film promotion Kraken. For more information, see dsr.si.
Viviana Carlet, Piattaforma Lago: What will be the future of your short film?
Being aware of the trending topics in European film production could be useful while writing a script or developing a short film project.
Which distribution strategies should be assumed already at the writing stage and how can they change during the development and realisation phases? How to study and develop a distribution strategy for your film in the ecosystem of short film programming in Europe? What are some alternative ways for non-mainstream films to find the recognition they deserve?
The keys to success in short film production and distribution include awareness and clarity of the project, the theme and quality of the product, the importance of relationships and … perseverance.
Free admission.
In collaboration with the Directors’ Guild of Slovenia and the Slovenian Film Centre, and in partnership with the Society for short film promotion Kraken.
SUNDAY, 11.6.2023
11.00–17.00
Meetings between Short Scene workshop participants and their tutors
For workshop participants.
