CROSSING EUROPE INDUSTRY AFTERNOON 2025
30.4. / 14:00 – 18:00 / Ursulinensaal
This year's Industry Afternoon is not just an industry event in the traditional sense, but is aimed at anyone interested in film who has always wanted to take a closer look at the production processes and working realities of European filmmakers.
Under the title Exploring European Film Production, the festival invites you for the first time to a multi-layered panel format, in which the focus is not only on the professional expertise of the panel guests, but above all on the joint discourse between the film industry and the interested audience.
Since its beginnings, Crossing Europe is a meeting place for young European cinema and has consequently developed into an important networking platform not only for international but also for local filmmaking.
Anyone trying to gain a foothold in the film business faces the complex challenges of an industry that is constantly changing. In addition to a great deal of passion, one thing is needed above all: insight.
And this is precisely where the new industry event intends to deliver important impulses.
At the Industry Afternoon, these take the form of four thematic blocks that change every hour and offer both input on current and industry-relevant topics as well as the opportunity to discuss them.
Whether it's about the need to think more about European co-productions in your own project planning, the relevance of gender parity/diversity in film or the extent to which modern AI tools will change the work of filmmakers in the long term.
In addition to this wealth of information, the afternoon will also offer the opportunity for extensive networking in a relaxed atmosphere: With our panel guests, with like-minded people from the audience, in the form of one-on-one meetings with institutions from the fields of film funding, networking, training, co-production and distribution or at the Creative Europe Cocktail afterwards.
Program
All content in English, Q&A and round table sessions occasionally in German.
It is possible to either spend the whole afternoon or to just join specific parts of the event.
Doors stay open.
Registration is not necessary, with the exception of the “Get Informed!” information tables (17:10 to 18:00) – see below.
14:00 // WELCOME
Sabine Gebetsroither and Katharina Riedler (Crossing Europe Festival Directors)
14:15 // PART ONE //
Measures And Policies To Promote Parity In European Cinema
Presentation: A Qualitative Study by Lab Femmes de Cinéma
Speaker: Lise Perottet (General Coordinator Lab Femmes de Cinéma / FR)
Since 2016, the Lab Femmes de Cinéma realize an annual study on the measures and policies implemented in European Cinema to promote parity.
With this study, the Lab aims to contribute to the movement of raising awareness about the issue of women's place in the cinema industry. By annually contacting different European film institutes the Lab is also encouraging them to evaluate in concrete terms the measures they put in place to promote equality while adopting a reflexive look onto their own policies, by comparing them to those that already exist in Europe.
By presenting a synthesis of all the policies aimed at inclusion in Europe, the Lab is able every year, thanks to this study, to catalog the measures that are experimented with which aim to try and increase opportunities and inclusion in cinema. It is therefore as much an annual assessment as it is a collection of good practices.
- Followed by a Q&A session -
In cooperation with MIOB – Moving Images Open Borders
Speaker: Lise Perottet (General Coordinator Lab Femmes de Cinéma / FR)
Since 2016, the Lab Femmes de Cinéma realize an annual study on the measures and policies implemented in European Cinema to promote parity.
With this study, the Lab aims to contribute to the movement of raising awareness about the issue of women's place in the cinema industry. By annually contacting different European film institutes the Lab is also encouraging them to evaluate in concrete terms the measures they put in place to promote equality while adopting a reflexive look onto their own policies, by comparing them to those that already exist in Europe.
By presenting a synthesis of all the policies aimed at inclusion in Europe, the Lab is able every year, thanks to this study, to catalog the measures that are experimented with which aim to try and increase opportunities and inclusion in cinema. It is therefore as much an annual assessment as it is a collection of good practices.
- Followed by a Q&A session -
In cooperation with MIOB – Moving Images Open Borders
15:10 // PART TWO //
AI In Film
Präsentation: AI in film - where do we go from here?
Speaker: Stephanie Meisl (Media & Concept Artist / AT)
- Followed by a Q&A session -
In cooperation with Creative Region Linz & Upper Austria
Speaker: Stephanie Meisl (Media & Concept Artist / AT)
- Followed by a Q&A session -
In cooperation with Creative Region Linz & Upper Austria
16:10 // PART THREE //
Case Study - Co-produce! But how?
Presentation: Opportunities through funding from the Creative Europe program (Culture & Media)
Speakers: Elisabeth Pacher and Alicia Viertmann (Creative Europe Desk Austria – Culture & Media / AT)
A case study on first-time filmmaking in the European market using the example of ROK VDOVY / YEAR OF THE WIDOW (CZ/SK/HR 2024)
In Austria, national funding is often the first port of call for young filmmakers and can be sufficient to finance a film. An international co-production is not a necessity, even though co-productions can be an attractive means of finding additional financing partners, pooling creative resources, and reaching audiences beyond national borders. In many other European countries, especially in so-called low-capacity countries, co-producing is not a choice but a necessity: film productions are not possible without additional international financing partners, often from several countries.
Many film markets and film festivals offer industry programs aimed at international networking and co-production - increasingly with a focus on new talent. But what does it really mean to co-produce? Young filmmakers are confronted with many new challenges when making their first feature-length film projects. A co-production adds even more unknowns to the already unknown: How exactly does a co-production work? Where and how do I find co-production partners? Who can help you in the European financing jungle? And the fundamental question: isn't a co-production as a debut film maybe too big a step?
Using the example of the feature film debut ROK VDOVY / YEAR OF THE WIDOW, which is screening in the Competition Fiction section, we will talk to director Veronika Lišková and producer Kristýna Michálek Květová (Cinemotif, CZ) about the risks and opportunities of realizing a film debut as a co-production.
Guests: Veronika Lišková (director) and Kristýna Michálek Květová (producer – Cinemotif / CZ)
Hosts: Clara Schreiner and Dominik Tschütscher (Austrian Film Institute - Talents & Training / AT)
- Followed by a Q&A session -
In cooperation with Creative Europe Desk Austria – Culture & Media and Abteilung Talents & Training, ÖFI Österreichisches Filminstitut
Get Informed!
Round table sessions and one-on-ones
Sit in with one or more potential partners and get informed!
On-site seating subject to availability, advance bookings for one-on-ones individual tables are highly welcome! A complete list of participating institutions from the fields of film funding, networking, training, co-production, exploitation, etc. and further information on pre-registration is available here.
18:00 – 20:00 //
CREATIVE EUROPE COCKTAIL
Welcome: Elisabeth Pacher and Alicia Viertmann (Creative Europe Desk Austria – Culture & Media / AT)
Drinks, snacks and casual networking
hosted by Creative Europe Desk Austria – Culture & Media
Host:
Wolfgang Gumpelmaier-Mach (Creative Region Linz & Upper Austria / AT)
Information, Inquiries & Registration for “Get Informed!":
Luzi Katamay ()
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