Film festivals - do they have a future? Forum held in Katowice

Can anyone harness enough courage to raise such a question? It is as if to ask about chances of survival of a live organism that is ridded of its heart. Or both lungs. This live (and very much so!) organism stands for cinema, whereas it is the film festivals that constitute the heart and the lungs. Although "the death of the cinema" has long been declared, luckily the announced demise has not yet materialised. What is more - this presumed dead organism is still live and kicking. It is par­ticularly visible during film festivals - olympic spectacles, that instead of only once every four years, they provide a strong breath for the cinema and its followers 365 days a year and all over the world. Festivals (both illuminated by film stars and those "upside down" ones, with no carpets, almost barefoot) - these are the Feasts of Cinema, its Memory and Magic of the purest kind, when the 10th Muse's foundation understood as the emotional participation of the Viewer shines on us the clearest.

Therefore, alongside our young and thriving film festival IFF Ars Independent, we would like to use the opportunity to gather experts and professionals who would not be those, if it was not for their passion, to bring up the issue of an irrefuta­ble but also dignified future of film festivals.

"Future of film festivals" Forum

24-25 September 2012 Katowice

One could write a history of film via the history of film festi­vals - it is more than clear to every cinema aficionado. Venice, Locarno, Cannes, Berlinale and Viennale, Toronto and San Se­bastian...but that is not all. Since it is more than tempting that we should look at cities (Tallinn, Vilnus, Wroclaw, Kar­love Vary, Tribeka) from the viewpoint of a "film feast", which both marks and defines. Wroclaw's New Horizons, dark film nights of Tallinn, Vilnus spring cinema (Pavasaris film festi­val) Gdynia - the flagship of Polish cinematography. Genius loci of these locations, on a par with good spirits of festivals - people who animate them with their own enthusiasm, pas­sion and love for cinema. This is what we would like to talk about in Katowice and where we would like to barge into.

Who pays for the Red Carpets for those? Passion is passion, feelings are feelings, but cinema is also a machine that runs on money. No festival (even the most "OFF" one) can be done without a budget. How does one persuade a potential sponsor that the tramping of viewers' feet that run to see the festi­val's screening and later - their cheering and applauding, can be translated into a quantifiable profit for the brand, the city and the local community (not to mention the fame and glo­ry)? What would be the charm of Cannes, so similar to many other cities of the French Riviera, if it had not been for one decision made 65 years ago ? This, too, is what we shall pon­der on in Katowice.

And finally: Polish map of the festivals - legends and reality, paths and, hopefully - some perspectives of highways. Black points and white stains. Where are we headed, what do we desire, can we work together ?

T-Mobile Nowe Horyzonty, Krakowski Festiwal Filmowy, Gdynia Film Festival, Koszaliński Festiwal Debiutów Filmow­ych „Młodzi i Film", Lubuskie Lato Filmowe, Kino na Granicy, Tarnowski Festiwal Filmowy, OFF Plus Camera, Regiofun from Katowice and the hosts - Ars Independent. We will also have great journalists and critics who will lend their assistance to encode emotions into text, help us add a context and a Post Scriptum.

Viewers - stay with us...

Neeme Kari (Estonia)

Managing Director at Tallin Black Nights Festival. Tallin Film Festival (PÖFF or Tallin Black Nights) has the audience of about 80,000 people and is regarded as one of the most im­portant and the fastest growing film festival in Western Eu­rope. The exquisite organization strategy (the sponsorship by renowned companies and concerns) and promotion strategy causes that it becomes a significant factor in city and region development.

Sergej Stanojkovski (Croatia)

Director of Avvantura Festival Film Forum (Zadar), director and producer. He is the initiator of the international festival which is dedicated to European co-productions. Avvantura FFF is the only one festival in Croatia included into Europe­an programme Eye On Films. It is the Union Project which is bringing together 70 international partners - 40 festivals and 30 distributors, aiming to share the new strategy of promot­ing and distributing debutants' films. Sergej Stanojovky's ambition is to make Zadar and the region attractive centre of film production.

Bruno Chatelin (France)

International authority in the realm of film industry. Ex-Man­aging Director of big film companies - including the Twentieth Century Fox France. The founder of web pages serving several hundred of festivals on the whole world. Jury member of pres­tige film events, member of European Film Academy, Holly­wood European Awards and Cesar Academy.

Anna Sienkiewicz-Rogowska (Poland)

The Film Culture Popularizing assignee to director of Polish Institute of Film Art. The organizer of cultural activities. Since 2008 the executor of Film Culture Popularizing and Promo­tion department in the Polish Institute of Film Art. She man­ages team which deals with local promotion of polish cinema­tography, art houses and film clubs activity, also cooperation with Regional Film Funds. She controls the realization of edu­cational programmes.