Locarno STEP IN Initiative
The 65th Locarno International Film Festival will include a presentation of the latest films from Eastern Europe, which will take place between August 4 and August 6, 2012. The Polish Film Institute is one of the partners in organizing this event.
Latest Polish Films in Locarno
The STEP IN project will be an industry event focusing on presenting the latest films from the region to international distributors, exhibitors, and sales agents. The event is aimed at supporting promotion and distribution of Polish and other Eastern European films that often have difficulties in finding international sales agents despite their festival successes.
Meeting Point for the European Film Industry
The event is organized within the framework of the Industry Days at the Locarno IFF; it will be attended by twelve distributors, exhibitors, and sales agents, selected in cooperation with CICAE (Confédération Internationale des Cinémas d’Art et d’Essai) and Europa Distribution, representing the Eastern European member states of the MEDIA programme. Poland will be represented by Artur Liebhart – Planete+ Doc Festival Director and Against Gravity CEO. The STEP IN programme will be a two-day conference featuring seminars, workshops, and individual meetings between European film industry professionals. STEP IN is to become an annual event.
Promoting Polish Cinema
Five Polish films, selected by the Polish Film Institute, will also be available to industry professionals in the festival’s Digital Library. This presentation will serve to promote Polish cinema and support international marketing of the selected titles. These films will also be available free of charge for three months after the Locarno festival on the partnering Festival Scope website.
STEP IN is organized with support from the MEDIA programme, in cooperation with CICAE, Europa Distribution, Europa International, Festival Scope, and the Film New Europe website.
The Eastern European countries participating in the STEP IN programme are Bosnia-Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia, the Czech Republic, Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Romania, Slovakia, and Slovenia.
Further details available at: www.pardolive.ch.
Maria Łętowska
Translated by Karolina Kołtun