The ESPACE ITALIA room at the Hotel Stephanie was crowded on May 21th for the LAZIO@CANNES event (more than 80 registered participants mostly from EU and Asia and 12 speakers from Italy, UK, France, Germany, Austria, Sweden, Belgium, Singapore and India).
The Lazio@Cannes event, kicked off by a welcome speech by FILAS' Director General Mr Turi, fully achieved its three stated objectives.
The first one was the launch of the INNOMEDIA initiative, aimed at improving the take up of innovation in the audiovisual sector. The INNOMEDIA initiative is supported by CINE-REGIO, the European Network of Regional Film Funds, of which FILAS just became members, and by INNODEAL, a European project on Joint Innovation Programmes, of which FILAS is coordinating partner.
Organisations from five major European regions, namely Lazio in Italy, PACA region in France, Baden-Württemberg in Germany, Vienna region in Austria, and West Midlands in UK have nominated speakers for the first panel that debated the challenges of bringing innovation in the relatively conservative sector of audiovisuals. The panel was introduced by a rich and stimulating invited speech on "Innovation centred funding for the digital media age: the Digital Media Fund experience" by Advantage West Midlands' Mr David Furmage.
The second objective was the launch of the SILK-NET initiative. SILK-NET aims at an integrated coordination between Europe and South-East Asia, to set up optimal conditions for international co-production. SILK-NET session was co-organised with the Media Development Authority of Singapore.
FILAS and MDA have been working together since 2006 under the framework of a bilateral Memorandum of Understanding.
The second panel, dedicated to international co-production, saw the presence of people from international organisations such as the European Commission and CINE-REGIO as well as from Singapore and India. The panel was introduced by an informative and entertaining invited speech on "The role of international co-productions for the growth of the audiovisual sector:
remarkable cases in Asia and Europe" by MDA's CEO Dr. Chia.
European and Asian producers, who participated with enthusiasm to the sessions and raised interesting questions to the panelists, took full advantage of the intentional long breaks to informally match and discuss of co-production opportunities. The event ended with a warmly received networking fusion lunch held on the terrace overlooking the Croisette, blessed by one of the rare moments of sunshine.
The event was held under the patronage of Mrs Giulia Rodano, Councillor for Culture and Media of Regione Lazio and Mrs Viviane Reding, Member of the European Commission, responsible for Information Society and Media.
The Lazio@Cannes Programme is available here
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