Launch of virtual movie theaters as aid measures by US distributors for independent cinemas

As Art House Convergence announced today several distributors have rallied to support their independent cinema partners and launch virtual movie theaters. During difficult times it has been amazing to witness the strength and generosity of our field. In partnership with Art House Convergence, Film Movement has debuted Film Movement Plus – Virtual Cinema, a virtual theatrical experience that will allow customers to purchase tickets to Corpus Christi, Zombi Child, The

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German film festivals react to Corona crisis

Declaration of the AG FilmfestivalThere is hardly a festival in Europe that has not yet been affected by the Corona crisis. Some festivals have had to cancel their events at short notice, nobody can even begin to foresee the financial consequences. But those who work on a freelance basis or as service providers and are already the least secure are particularly affected. You can find the further explanation of the

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Preparedness resources of the Arthouse Convergence in response to COVID-19

As of March 15, 2020 many art house cinemas have made the difficult decision to temporarily close to mitigate the spread of COVID-19, a novel coronavirus that causes respiratory illness. Art houses have taken this step in compliance with public health guidelines and in solidarity with their communities.  In order to help navigate this rapidly evolving situation, Art House Convergence is updating its webpage daily. To facilitate resource reagrdingAdvocate for Arts Funding and

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Survey on working conditions at film festivals in Germany/ Umfrage zu Arbeitsbedingungen bei Filmfestivals in Deutschland

Film festivals have become an indispensable part of the culture and film industry, creating many new professions and highly qualified employment groups. Nevertheless, film festivals are often associated with low pay, exploitation and self-exploitation. The AG Festivalarbeit in ver.di would like to collect data by means of a survey of employees at German film festivals as explore the connections and, not least, honour good examples with a Fair Festival Award.

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Why Film Festivals?

On the occasion of the 70th anniversary of the Berlinale, Carlo Chatrian, Karel Och and Eva Sangiorgi discussed with Academy President and filmmaker Jeanine Meerapfel and Andreas Kilb new ideas and future developments of international film festivals at the Academy of Fine Arts Berlin (12.2.2020) . Access to the video recording here

Study confirms that the reception of feature films in the cinema has a greater emotional quality than via VOD

According to a study by the psychologists Roland Thomaschke and Kerstin Fröber, which examined 21 feelings when watching films in the cinema or via VOD, 15 feelings were found to be experienced more strongly in the cinema. Fascination and sadness had the greatest effect, boredom alone was experienced more at home than in the cinema. Interview in German here

What a shame: A tale of multiple Hollywoods

Without a doubt, this year’s Oscar ceremony will go down in history, as „Parasite“ is the first non-English language film in the 92-year history of the Academy Awards to win the Oscar for best film. Nevertheless, this fact cannot hide the fact that women and different ethnicities, despite the far-reaching changes made by the Academy four years ago after the #oscarssowhite protest, do not appear in this Hollywood story. Recently,

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The next junction: Film festivals in Baden-Württemberg establish a joint network

Corresponding to the development that „due to the steady decline in cinema numbers and the increase in streaming services, film festivals are becoming ever more important and playing an ever greater role in the film landscape“, the film festivals of another federal state in Germany have now joined forces. In doing so, they are not least following the initiative of a Germany-wide working group on film festivals, which was initiated

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It is still along way to go for festivals to reach parity

Even though the four major film festivals Sundance, Tribeca, South by Southwest (SXSW) and AFI seem to be making progress towards gender parity for directors, the Women’s Media Center (WMC) – the nonprofit women’s organization founded by activists Jane Fonda, Robin Morgan, and Gloria Steinem – still sees a great need for action to reach 5050×2020 / for numerous film festivals, as an analysis by Carla Hay shows. See more

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Female directors still represent just 21% of all directors of European films produced between 2003 and 2017

At the end of last year, the 5th Diversity Report of the BVR – Bundesverband Regie had made it clear that in Germany the public broadcasters had not fulfilled their promises of equal opportunities for female directors and that the announced gender monitoring had not been carried out. A study by the European Audiovisual Observatory recently published shows how the situation for women is shaping itself at European level. Download

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