What was the best lesson you learned from 2020?
MK: “Teamwork. Between ourselves and with our partners, such as BrLab and Australab, who immediately put their commitment and enthusiasm on the plate. If I think of Latin America, despite the obvious difficulties it was really important that the Academy continue, even in a less than ideal context. And not only did we succeed, but this year we have also given the entire region and its Academies a central coordination and reference point, giving birth to the Locarno Industry Academy Latin America, supported by IBERMEDIA program, a unique project that has further strengthened bonds and increased organizational strength”.
KA: “First of all, our great ally, technology, has a price. And if you are a great speaker, a good teacher, you are one online as well.”
JD: “The resistance of our tutors and participants. Listening to them, each from their own country and with their own history, eager to move forward, to share, to resist; when we are able to share experiences, everything seems possible on the horizon.”
Can digital platforms be the future of the Academy?
MK: “The advantages are real and evident; guaranteeing a diversity of profiles among both participants and tutors, who are no longer forced to travel and stay elsewhere for 3-4 days, with the costs it requires. Technology eliminates these constraints and therefore broadens the audience of possible participants, offering the same training even to those without the financial means. Online is accessible to all, it offers inclusion and diversity. Perhaps the most interesting thing to do is to imagine a hybrid format, in order to not lose these values. Having said that, our commitment must be directed towards the encounter, the real experience. Our work is contact, communication, relationships based on trust. Our very industry was built on a social idea.”
KA: “Technically, they can be, but I firmly believe that in the context of an Academy linked to a Festival it is much better and more efficient to organize a physical event, among the activities of an international market. Some educational programs will undoubtedly remain exclusively online, but in our case we would have to change a lot so that our online version can make sense and be attractive.”
JD: “An online scenario is certainly not the most desirable one; there are extremely positive aspects of this experience, such as being able to structure ourselves with the birth of the Locarno Industry Academy Latin America, and working together with all the project managers. Or beyond that, having been able to broaden our audience by de-centralizing the selection; usually in São Paulo we have people from the city or from Brazil, this year we had only one participant from São Paulo, some Brazilians from other regions and then guys from Bolivia, Chile, Colombia, Mexico and Peru. In short, we will probably have to look at a hybrid model, a more sustainable, more inclusive and less expensive one, without however losing the meetings, events and above all the experience of seeing a film in a dark room, surrounded by other people.”
How do you imagine the 2021 Academy?
MK: “Face to face, sharing what the digital will never know how to convey.”
KA: “Where it belongs, in the port of Thessaloniki, in Warehouse C, between people from all over the world who run with a coffee in their hand to attend a screening or a meeting, meeting other faces and other smiles.”
JD: “Hybrid, face-to-face and online, capable of welcoming anyone.”