Europa Cinemas Audience Development Innovation Lab
Creating the Demand for a Diverse Cinema

Directed by Madeleine Probst (Watershed Cinema Programme Producer in Bristol & Vice-President of Europa Cinemas) together with Mathias Holtz (Programming Manager, Folkets Hus och Parker, Sweden) and Petra Slatinšek (Film Education & Kinobalon Programme Manager, Kinodvor, Ljubljana, Slovenia)

In the words of the late Peter von Bagh, former artistic director of “Il Cinema Ritrovato is pure heaven for cinephiles!” It’s also a hugely popular festival for audiences here in Bologna with a remarkable track record in engaging the next generation of filmgoers in the big screen experience. Il Cinema Ritrovato is evidence that our rich cinema heritage is very much alive, right here, right now. We would be hard pressed to dream up a better place for cinema practitioners from across Europe and beyond to come together with audiences to reflect on the past, present and future of cinema.
No wonder then that we are back in Bologna for the 11th edition of Europa Cinemas’ annual gathering of cinema exhibitors. Its network – now spanning 2,061 screens in 42 countries, has an important impact on the circulation and life of European films, with some 35 million admissions for European films in 2014.
Creating the demand for diverse films is a big challenge in an increasingly homogenised market driven by large marketing budgets and global brands.
Our focus this year, within a festival devoted to the history of film, is on the role that cinemas can play locally in engaging audiences of all ages in the rich and diverse range of films from the ground up.
We take our cue from Buster Keaton as he gets his big appearance on the Piazza Maggiore; drawing from his adventurous disposition, penchant for innovation, DIY stunts and deadpan humour, de rigueur in challenging times. As screenwriter William Goldman famously stated, “nobody knows anything” but this much we know. Building a 21st century approach to cinema exhibition means not being afraid to take risks, to innovate and to remember to some fun with it all. The disruption brought about by the digital context and the ensuing necessity for re-invention has become a central pre-occupation and driving force for re-imagining our role in today’s multi-platform connected world.
In an environment where films can be accessed on a proliferating range of platform from anywhere, how can we keep on generating a buzz around that collective cinema experience – where the full meaning of film has the potential to be revealed? The lab provides a vital research and development space for cinemas to share experiments – successes and failures – and collectively evolve responsive and practical strategies for dealing with an increasingly dynamic environment. We draw on practical case studies from within and beyond the cinema sector across a range of national contexts to rethink and re-energise our approaches, and expand our networks.
For instance, what can we learn from guerrilla style initiatives such as Cinema America Occupato who are bringing cinema to the streets of Rome with their hugely popular free pop-ups. How can we tap into social networks more strategically to generate a buzz on a budget with a little help from social media experts such as Marco Odasso? We’ll explore questions such as how can we reach those that we don’t (yet) engage in a diverse range of world cinema and why should we do it. There will be practical examples of how cinemas – from Glasgow to Riga – are consulting with young people to co-create brands, offers and experiences that are in tune with a generation of digital natives. We’ll hear from successful partnerships with schools and teachers from cinemas in countries such as Slovenia and Italy.
One of the challenges for the lab will be to dream and scheme an audience development strategy fit for purpose in the 21st century for Cinema Modernissimo, a real-life heritage cinema project at the heart of Bologna championed by Gian Luca Farinelli. Case studies from Sweden’s Folkets Hus och Parker and the UK’s brand new five screen cinema within Home arts complex in Manchester will provide some practice-based inspiration of what can be done.
These are both exciting and demanding times for us cinemas that are at the forefront of a live debate with local (and increasingly global) audiences. We can only hope to come anywhere near Keaton in finding ways of engaging audiences across generations.

Madeleine Probst