News  ·  19 | 06 | 2020

Locarno Pro 2020

A calendar made of meetings, platforms, films and roundtables

Where there's Locarno, there's Locarno Pro. An edition supporting the film industry could not be without what has proven to be an international reference point for global auteur cinema professionals every summer. As mentioned in the previous weeks, Locarno Pro will be at the center of   Locarno 2020 - For the Future of Films. It will have a strong, albeit virtual, presence, on August 5-11, and during those days professionals will get to meet, assess the international situation, look into the effects of lockdown and imagine a fresh start together. Be it through Open Doors, the launch of new platforms like Heritage Online or projects in partnership with Variety and Cinébulletin, Locarno Pro will once again be the stage for the industry's present to imagine the future. Together.


StepIn, in partnership with Variety
5, 6 and 7 August 
If we talk about the future, we are talking about StepIn. In just few years it has confirmed its status as one of the most renowned international think tanks where film industry professionals can discuss the future, sharing experiences and visions and imagining together new behaviors, practices and business models. In a moment like 2020 post-lockdown, this very idea could prove fundamental to evaluate strategies and opportunities for the restart of the industry.
The event, in collaboration with Variety, which will host StepIn on its own Variety Streaming Room platform, will be divided into 3 sessions of 50 minutes each dealing, respectively, with the future of theatrical experience, production, and film festivals and markets. Each session will involve up to 5 international speakers, moderated by one of Variety journalists. The sessions are free to attend but require registration. Registration information will be posted at a later date.
All the information concerning the event will be available here during the following weeks.


Heritage Online
7, 8 and 9 August
Locarno Pro presents its new platform, unique and unprecedented on the international scene, to bring film heritage online. Active from the beginning of July, it will be a digital space where the past can mingle with the future. By accessing the Heritage Online portal, film heritage rightsholders will be able to share their catalog with potential buyers, the VOD platforms, from industry giants to the smallest realities. With access to this database, VOD professionals will be able to view detailed files, collect rights information and watch the proposed films, all year long. The aim, for both sides, is to bring the public the international film heritage, still little present in the VOD universe today.
During the days of Locarno Pro (7-9 August) the platform will come to life through a dedicated roundtable discussion, pitching sessions and meetings with interested professionals, which this year will take place online.
Here is all the information about the program.


Open Doors Hub and Lab
6-11 August
They are seventeen and come from Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Thailand, Vietnam, and Mongolia. These are the 8 projects and 9 producers selected for the Open Doors Hub and Lab 2020. On its eighteenth anniversary Open Doors will be, as never before, at the center of the Locarno Film Festival. 
Exploiting the potential of the web, the directors and producers invited for the Hub and Lab will be able to tell through individual online meetings a cinema that urgently needs to exist and grow. Among the selected projects there will be the first time of an animation film, some welcome returns, some well-known faces of international cinema and of course those promising young talents that are the reflection of Open Doors vision.
Details of the selected project are available here from today.


SwissBiz Round Table
10 August
A compass in the heart of the Swiss lockdown. Thanks to its collaboration with Cinébulletin, Locarno Pro offers professionals in the Swiss film industry an analysis of this delicate historical moment in order to understand the trajectories and strategies that can help keep alive national auteur cinema. Thanks to an online discussion of around 90 minutes taking place between selected speakers, with the overall conversation moderated by a Cinébulletin journalist, reflections will shine a spotlight on the circulation of films in Switzerland at the time of the lockdown. What are the opportunities offered by the VOD panorama? What are the best launch strategies for the reopening of theatres? What are the reflections in relation to Festival, TV, and distribution? What are the economic implications? The discussion will end with a conversation with the audience made up of key professionals and journalists.
More information available from mid-July.


The Locarno Pro 2020 program is possible thanks to the support of the Federal Office of Culture (FOC) / MEDIA Desk Suisse and the collaboration of the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation SDC of the Federal Department of Foreign Affairs for the Open Doors section.

 

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