Speakers
CITIES OF FILM
ROME
Rome, Italy, was designated a UNESCO City of Film in 2015. The Capital city of Italy with 2.9 million inhabitants, Rome has a rich legacy in motion pictures dating back to the early 20th century with the creation of the Cinecittà Studios. Home to the largest film production facility in Europe, Rome became internationally renowned as the hub of Italian cinema. Adopted hometown of Federico Fellini, the so-called “Eternal City” has sustained its reputation as a vibrant city of film, and now supports a large sector with over 1,300 active enterprises in the film industry, generating an annual added value of about 750 million euros. In addition, Rome’s film market has significantly strengthened with strong public-private cooperation. Every autumn since 2006, Rome welcomes a wide audience of 150,000 people from 25 countries to the International Rome Film Festival, which ranks among the top film festivals in the world. Following a week of film screenings, the audience is invited to reward the best films with People’s Choice Awards. This participative process highlights Rome’s steadfast commitment in making the film sector a key driver for social inclusion and cohesion. One of the sections of the Festival called Alice Nella Città is also unique by being devoted to films directed by children divided in two groups: the over-12 and under-12.
Local institutions have strongly supported the emergence of cultural and creative industries in the past five years. Amongst other supporting programmes, the Roma Provincia Creative has established a regional fund to benefit young creative entrepreneurs, as well as a social network to exchange and promote their innovative projects. In the film sector, the Culture and Tourism Department of Rome has developed an urban renewal programme to restart the activity of 42 abandoned movie theatres by commissioning small and medium-sized local cooperatives to revitalize urban areas with creativity and innovation.
ŁÓDŹ
Situated at the heart of Poland, Łódź is the third largest city of the country with 700,000 inhabitants. After World War II, Łódź has been recognised as the Polish filmmaking centre after the foundation of the National Film School in 1948. The city is home to many internationally acclaimed directors and cinematographers such as Andrzej Wajda, Roman Polanski, Krzysztof Kieślowski and Piotr Sobociński. Łódź’s hosts a great number of film studios, including the largest one in Poland, Feature Film Studio. In 2016, the local creative industry represented 4,858 creative industries, of which 9.4% were related to the audio-visual sector. Known as the city of festivals in Poland, Łódź offers hundreds of cultural events through-out the year, from the Transatlantyk Festival; directed by the Academy Award winner Jan A.P. Kaczmarek, to the Humanistic Man in Danger Festival and the environment-oriented International Nature Film Festival. The city also hosts the Film Museum and the Se-ma-for Museum of Animation, as well as the newly established National Centre for Film Culture. Aiming to be completed by 2020, this new facility will be devoted to audio-visual technologies, the process of filmmaking, the history of Polish film culture and multimedia research and learning. Building on the tagline ‘Łódź Creates’, the City Council adopted the Culture Development Policy 2020+; setting creative talent, retention and attraction as a strategic goal. The policy’s operational objectives include providing financial support to young artists through scholarships, as well as supporting recognised creators through artist-in-residence programmes and honorary awards. The city-funded Łódź Film Commission, operator of the Łódź Film Fund, also financial supports film producers, as well as providing technical and promotion assistance. From 2012 to 2016, 26 projects received an overall funding of US$1.1 million, including Afterimage, the last film directed by Andrzej Wajda.
BRADFORD
In 2009 Bradford was designated as a UNESCO City of Film in recognition of the city’s rich film heritage, its inspirational movie locations and its many celebrations of the moving image through the city’s annual film festivals. Bradford has a long history associated with film and filmmaking dating back to the birth of cinema and has long been acknowledged by the film industry as a film-friendly city. Bradford is a key location for film and television production and boasts a number of key film festivals including the Bradford International Film Festival, the Bradford Animation Festival and is also home to the National Media Museum. Bradford offers learning opportunities for students of all ages. Primary school children benefit from a unique film literacy programme; secondary school pupils have the opportunity to study the ways in which films create meaning as part of the English National Curriculum; and three colleges and the University of Bradford provide over 45 related introductory, post-graduate and PhD courses. Opportunities for professional development in the film sector are also present. The sheer volume and quality of work in Bradford’s film sector explain why so many film industry professionals choose to base themselves here. Thanks to the resources, facilities, support and passion for this creative field, Bradford is home to both amateurs and professionals alike.
BUSAN
Busan, South Korea, was made a UNESCO City of Film in 2014. As a second biggest city in South Korea, Busan has an established reputation as a City of Film, thanks to its flourishing film culture, supported by the strong domestic film industry. Busan City of Film holds the vision, “Film for All”, and with this vision, Busan works to grow as a leading UNESCO Creative City of Film, competing on a global scale in Asia and around the world. Through the early influence of Western culture, Busan developed strong roots in the film industry and was the first city in Korea to release a motion picture. Busan has also benefitted greatly from its natural environment of mountains, rivers, and sea, which provide many popular shooting locations for films as well as for national and international TV programmes. In recent decades, Busan has developed into a creative hub, which is nowadays vital to the Asian film and visual industry. Focusing on sustainable growth, Busan has fostered amenities related to film, such as the improvement of production conditions or the installation of new R&D companies. Launched in 1996, the Busan International Film Festival (BIFF) has become Asia’s premier film festival. With world-class infrastructure and professional human resources, Busan is now a standard-setter in the film industry. The Busan Cinema Centre, which was built to mark the success of BIFF, stands as a symbol of Busan, city of film. Established in 1999, the Busan Film Commission offers a full film production network covering planning, shooting and distribution.
SYDNEY
Sydney is Australia’s undisputed film and television production hub. A city rich in culture with a passion for cinematography, Sydney leads Australia in the screen sector, with nearly 60% of all people employed nationally in production and post-production businesses based here. More than half of all Australian production and post-production businesses are located in the state of New South Wales. he local creative industries have produced world-class talents including director George Miller, actors Hugh Jackman and Cate Blanchett as well as digital animation pioneers Animal Logic, creators of The Lego Movie. Sydney also boasts a kaleidoscope of filming locations from pristine beaches, lush mountains and bush land to stunning cityscapes.
Sydney is home to Fox Studios Australia, with the biggest sound stage in the Southern Hemisphere. The studio, which brought to life films including The Matrix, The Great Gatsby and The Wolverine, provides state of the art filming and digital resources for filmmakers. Sydney’s dynamic and exciting screen productions challenge perceptions and help audiences to see the world differently, while at the same time telling great stories. From television series set in Sydney such as Redfern Now, or Janet King to movies on the big screen, Sydney loves watching movies as much as it loves making the content. The Sydney Film Festival, the Arab Film Festival, the Academy accredited Flickerfest short film festival, the Queer Screen Film Festival and the Tropfest Film Festival, to name just a few, reflect the eclectic cultural diversity of the city.
QINGDAO
Hailed as the ‘Oriental Studio’, both film and cinema have played an important part in Qingdao’s history and culture since the early 1900’s, with many often referring to the city as the home of Chinese cinema. With a population of 9.2 million, the city’s pleasant climate and diverse landscape serves as an important film location and was featured in Zhang Yimou’s latest movie, The Great Wall. Focusing predominantly on city’s the film and music sectors, the development, which has largely been fuelled by the cultural sector’s economic growth, has supported the city’s continued success. In 2016, Qingdao’s creative industries amounted to US$8,1 billion, with a year-on-year increase of 14.8%. Qingdao regularly hosts internationally acclaimed film festivals and cultural events. One popular event is the China Film Society of Performing Art Award founded in 1987, also known as the Golden Phoenix Awards. The city is also home to the world’s largest film and television industry park; the Oriental Movie Metropolis. It is composed of a production area, an exterior scene area and an experiment area. Qingdao has also concluded an agreement with the Cannes Film Festival to build an international cooperation platform by setting up the Cannes Day. Qingdao has identified film innovation as an important strategic factor for sustainable urban development, in economic, cultural and social terms. A series of policies enabling development within the film and television industry have been conceived, of which the Oriental Movie Metropolis is the largest initiative. This programme aims to build a large-scale industrial area for film and television covering 44 km² and fitted with a world-class film compound. 30 studios have been established in the first phase, including a 10,000 m² single studio and a state-of-the-art underwater studio. As well as building 40 studios to be used for an estimated 100 film and TV productions, the project will also create 100,000 jobs.
BRISTOL
The Gateway to England’s West Country, Bristol (pop. 454,200) is the United Kingdom’s 10th largest city and an established centre for creative innovation. Home to motion picture pioneer William Friese-Greene, Hollywood icon Cary Grant, the world-leading BBC Natural History unit and Academy Award®-winning Aardman Animations, film plays a central role in Bristol’s cultural and commercial identity. The sector significantly contributes to the local economy with independent companies providing US$197,8 million and visiting productions bringing US$258 million into the city in 2016 and 2017. Bristol hosts 11 annual international film festivals, each providing a diverse and dynamic programme of events, drawing local, national and international audiences. Wildscreen, the world’s leading wildlife film festival, takes place biennially, attracting visitors from across the globe to celebrate cutting-edge natural history filmmaking. Bristol is home to the BFI Film Hub South West and West Midlands, a network of 189 cinemas, festivals, arts organisations and exhibitors working to foster film inclusivity and skills development. The Watershed film culture and digital media centre links many of Bristol’s festivals, networks and initiatives together; in 2016 and 2017, their programme engaged 25,000 young people and they welcomed 450,000 visitors through their doors. Socio-economic benefits of creativity underpin Bristol’s Cultural Strategy that raise the status of filmmakers and promote inclusivity. The longstanding BBC Bristol Partnership connects individual talent, SMEs and larger companies to grow and compete in international markets. The combined work of Bristol Film Office and The Bottle Yard Studios encourages production into the city, bringing employment and inward investment to the local film industry.
GALWAY
Both an outpost facing west towards the Americas and a gateway to Europe, Galway stands at a pivotal vantage point on the West Coast of Ireland. Galway’s historic Spanish Arch, the remainder of a centuries-old bastion, is a reminder of the city’s multi-cultural, multi-lingual history and present-day character where imagination, commerce and the arts flourish. The surrounding landscape, culture and language have attracted artists, musicians and writers for generations. In recent decades Galway has seen the rise of a burgeoning film, television and animation sector, bringing significant economic activity to the area. Galway is expanding its film audiences by building Galway’s first Art House Cinema and by supporting the development of the city’s film festivals and increasing the opportunities for film exhibitions in the region. Galway’s overall vision is to showcase the rich heritage, tradition and legacy of film in the area, to broaden ongoing film activities and to enrich the social, economic and cultural contributions across the region.
SOFIA
The history of cinema in Sofia dates back to the beginning of the twentieth century. Over the decades, Sofia has become the center of the Bulgarian film industry. Movies produced in the city have on many occasions been presented at international festivals. As a part of the UNESCO Creative Cities Network, Sofia will maximize its potential and broaden its outreach as a City of Film.
Sofia is home to a wide variety of cultural enterprises and an active service sector focusing on the film industry. Many professional organizations bringing together film directors and producers are also based in Sofia. The municipality of Sofia has therefore decided to target the expansion of the film industry as a strategic factor for the city’s sustainable development, with special focus being given to the stabilization and growth of small cultural enterprises.
Bulgaria’s biggest film school (NAFTA) is located in Sofia. It has gained wide attention through the organization of several international student film festivals. Students and lecturers are actively involved in the exchange of ideas with film schools and universities from abroad. Over the past eighteen years, the Sofia Film Festival has emerged to become the Balkans’ largest and most important film festival. Furthermore, the National Film Archive, focusing on the rich history of film in Bulgaria, is also located in Sofia.
TERRASSA
With its first film screening held in 1887, Terrassa had already begun to establish itself as one of the pioneer cities in Spain for the film industry. Reinterpreting the industrial modernism on which its growth was based during the 20th century, the city set about consolidating its film industry in the first few years of the 21st century through the development of an educational ecosystem with audiovisual training and the building of the Centre for Conservation and Restoration of the Catalonian Film Archive, which spans one hundred years of regional cinema history. The city has, over the last decade, witnessed the development of a major amateur film movement, led in particular by the architect Jan Baca and the painter Antoni Padrós, who approach cinema as a new, cross-cutting and universal language. In addition to being one of the most important centres of audiovisual creation in Spain, Terrassa is the location of the Escola Superior de Cinema i Audiovisuals (ESCAC) which counts among its alumni Juan Antonio Bayona, the director of The Impossible and The Orphanage, which was awarded the Goya Prize. Working jointly with the municipality, ESCAC is behind the Base Film Festival, an event interspersed with screenings of the first films of young talent. Terrassa is also home to the Catalonia Audiovisual Park (Parc Audiovisual de Catalunya – PAC), a major production centre composed of a number of film studios, an incubator for the creative industries and an enterprise cluster. Through the Baumann Lab, Terrassa Municipality offers a specific programme of creativity grants intended for young artists, one of which directly supports experimental audiovisual projects. Reaffirming its strategic commitment to training, it also partly sponsors ESCAC through bursaries provided to students. Building on its experience with other city networks, such as Eurocities, and international programmes including Interreg Med, Terrassa is seeking to consolidate and share its expertise in international cooperation with other Creative Cities to promote sustainable development backed by cultural industries.
YAMAGATA
Located at the foot of the Zao mountain range in Northeastern Japan, Yamagata (pop. 250,000) launched the Yamagata International Documentary Film Festival (YIDFF) in 1989. This event is renowned for being the first international festival devoted to the documentary genre in Asia, and is the longest running event of its kind in the world and recording an annual audience of 24,000. Ogawa Shinsuke, the icon of the Japanese documentary and awarded by the Berlin International Film Festival, was influential in the creation of the festival, turning the city into a major film hub in Japan. The audiovisual sector, including film industry, comprises 150 companies generating a total income of US$441 billion. Considering film and documentary genres as tools for rethinking societies and nurturing collective memory, Yamagata encourages young people to engage in the sector. In turn, this helps tackle the significant lack of employment opportunities for the young population. The YIDFF is being instrumental in providing film workshops, internships and international residency programmes by partnering with universities, including the Tohoku University of Art and Design. The Renaissance Project also showcases young talented filmmakers whose work focuses on shedding new light on traditional know-how, including of crafts and folk art and of gastronomy. Yamagata is implementing its Action Plan for Cultural Promotion which identifies creative activities as a key driver for the city’s socio-economic development. The plan provides support for grass-roots cultural activities that contribute to community-building. In the film sector, the Yamagata Film Commission has expanded since 2012 by including seven other cities in order to better serve and support the regional film industry. With an annual average of 60 visiting productions, this initiative has significantly raised Yamagata’s profile as a city of film.
SARAJEVO
Sarajevo is the first Creative City in Bosnia and Herzegovina to join the UNESCO Creative City Network. The city is home to The National Film Archive of Bosnia and Herzegovina and the Film Center Sarajevo, working together to protect and preserve film materials of historical, artistic, cultural, educational and scientific significance, and build a strong record of Bosnian film heritage. The city has inspired many notable Bosnian filmmakers including Danis Tanović, known for his Academy-Award and Golden Globe-winning film, ‘No Man’s Land’, Jasmila Žbanić, and more. The Sarajevo Film Academy, founded by the Sarajevo School of Science and Technology in 2010, is the first private film school in Bosnia and Herzegovina and the only filmmaking school in South-Eastern Europe with a full curriculum taught in English. Sarajevo is home to The Sarajevo Film Festival, founded in 1995, which has become the biggest film festival in southeast Europe.
MUMBAI
Mumbai is the birthplace of Indian cinema. Mumbai is where Dadasaheb Phalke, Indian producer-director-screenwriter, considered to be the father of Indian cinema, laid the groundwork for silent movies, and where the first Indian film commercial screening took place in 1913. Mumbai hosts the Hindi film industry, commonly referred to as Bollywood, which is the largest component of the much-larger Indian film industry. Currently, at 45% of the Indian Film market, Bollywood films exist in over 15 languages and are spread across India. Mumbai is the capital of the state of Maharashtra and host to the Marathi film industry. Mumbai is home to a large number of cinema halls that thrive in the city, screening films from all over the world alongside Hindi and Marathi productions. Mumbai hosts several film festivals including The Mumbai International Film Festival and several film clubs that organise special screenings of world cinema.
POTSDAM
Potsdam is the first German city to be named a UNESCO City of Film. Located right outside Berlin, Potsdam is home to Babelsberg Studios, the oldest large-scale film studio in the world, which has produced films since 1912. Many national and international actors and directors have worked in Potsdam and at Babelsberg Studios. “Der Blaue Engel” (The Blue Angel) with Marlene Dietrich was shot there, as was Fritz Lang´s “Metropolis”. The city hosts a number of film festivals and events, including The International Film Festival Sehsüchte, now Europe`s largest student film festival, the Moving History Festival, specialising in historical films, the Jewish Film Festival Berlin-Brandenburg, and the Festival of Environmental and Nature Films.
VALLADOLID
Historic capital of Spain, Valladolid has a centuries-old cultural heritage that is the bedrock of the modern-day city. Home to one of the oldest film festivals in Europe, the Valladolid International Film Festival, also known as SEMINCI, the festival screens some 100 long and short films from different countries each year. One of the oldest universities in the world, Universidad de Valladolid, can be found here, with sites dating back to the 1400s. The Valladolid Film Office coordinates filming in a city famous for welcoming Orson Welles to film ‘Mr Arkadin’ in 1954, an experience shared by Spanish novelist and journalist, Miguel Delibes in 1985. Valladolid hosts a variety of accessible cultural events, including public open-air screenings, the Rodinia Short Film Festival and the International Exhibition of Cinema and Sexual Diversity.
WELLINGTON
Capital of New Zealand, Wellington is home to a hub of world-class production and special effects facilities, as well as a number of talented filmmakers. The city, known affectionately as “Wellywood”, has worked on many international productions including The Lord of the Rings trilogy, King Kong, The Avengers, Ghost in the Shell and Oscar-winning Avatar, only emphasising Wellington’s strong background in post-production work. For the avid film fan, Wellington boasts famous filming locations up Mount Victoria, where Lord of the Rings filming took place, and the original Hobbit Village film set, Hobbiton. The city is home to the New Zealand Film Commission and Ngā Taonga, the National Film Archive, and offers aspiring filmmakers a range of courses at Victoria University of Wellington, Te Auaha Institute of Creativity and the New Zealand Film School.
BITOLA
Located in the south of North Macedonia, Bitola is second largest city in the country with around 100,000 inhabitants. Te city’s film heritage originated from the early 20th century with the film industry now representing the backbone of the city’s creative economy. Bitola’s history with film dates back to the Manaki brothers, Yanaki and Milton who as film and photog- raphy pioneers, brought to Bitola – formerly named Manastir – the Bioscope 300 film camera. Te brothers famously filmed the very first motion pictures shot in the Ottoman Balkans. Bitola is mostly known for the Manaki Brothers International Cinematographers Film Festival and Non Professional Documentary Film Festival – Camera 300 which celebrated 40 years
in 2019. Also, the city is recognized as an open studio and thanks to its famous for the beautiful locations, in and around the city, a lot of films are shot each year in Bitola and the surrounding villages. Near Bitola is Heraclea Lyncestis. It was an ancient city in Macedon, ruled later by the Romans. Its ruins are situated 2 km (1.2 mi) south of the present-day town of Bitola. It
was founded by Philip II of Macedon in the middle of the 4th century BC. Te city was named in honor of the mythological hero Heracles. Te name Lynkestis originates from the name of the ancient kingdom, conquered by Philip, where the city was built.
Bitola became a UNESCO City of Film in 2015, joining 180 members from 72 countries. As a Creative City of Film, Bitola envisages:
- Nurturing the vibrant role of film in Bitola’s creative economy, notably by expanding the scope of the programme Film Center Bitola through public private partnerships involving public cultural centres, universities, academia and private pro- duction companies;
- Fostering the city’s cultural offerings through exhibitions, festivals, workshops and other events especially based on the film heritage of the Manaki brothers;
- Positioning Bitola as an international hub for film creations;
- Exchanging experience and knowledge with other Creative Cities of Film