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After our pilot session held in June, 15 European exhibition practitioners per session, had the possibility to join in these Europa Cinemas Online Labs entitled "TURN ON THE LIGHTS - RE-OPENING STRATEGIES!" inviting them to spend some quality Zoom time to get some perspective on their own context and exchange expertise about how to cope with these unprecedented times.

The sessions have been facilitated by Madeleine Probst (Programme Producer, Watershed, UK), Metka Daris (Director, Kinodvor, Slovenia) and Simon Blaas (Director, Cinema Middelburg, The Netherlands) for the afternoon session of July 7th. For the Wednesday 8th July session, Madeleine was accompanied by Ewa Kujawinska (Director, Kino Palacowe, Poland) and Mustafa El Mesaoudi (Director, Cinema and Rex Filmtheater, Germany). Javier Pachon (President, Cineciutat, Spain) and Wiktoria Pelzer (Programmer, Stadtkino im Künstlerhaus, Austria) led together with Madeleine, the third session on Thursday, July 9th.

The second edition of the Online Lab was held on the 26th and 27th August, in collaboration with Festival Il Cinema Ritrovato in Bologna.

The session of the 26th August - open to all European exhibitors - was facilitated by Irene Musumeci (Marketing Manager, MUBI), Frederic Cornet (Director, Cinéma Galéries, Belgium) and Jure Maticic (Programmer, Mestni Kino Domzale, Slovenia). The session of the 27th August - addressed to Italian or Italian-speaking exhibitors - was facilitated by Irene Musumeci, Marco Fortunato (Programmer, Cinemazero, Italy) and Monica Naldi (Manager, Cinema Beltrade, Italy).

The focus for these two editions of the Online Lab has been on sharing approaches to re-opening cinemas and reflecting on experiences during the closure covering topics such as re-designing the cinema experience for reopening, staying in touch with audiences during closure working towards reopening or devising programming strategies for reopening in-venue and online.

It was a great occasion to share practice-based insights from exhibitors that have re-opened as well as opportunities for smaller group discussions. These breakout sessions gave participants the space to share a problem, pitch innovative ideas and/or identifying potential challenges to share with international collaborators.

With the idea to step back from the day to day, the setting of these online sessions allowed participants to bring ideas and issues to the Online Lab, to spend time with cinema practitioners from a diverse range of national contexts and to reflect on practices, expertise and solutions.

You can download and access the following documents:

- Sessions of the 7-8-9 July: Lab programmes, the report and the lists of participants

- Sessions of the 26-27 August: Lab programmes, the report and the lists of participants.

For more information, please contact:

Fatima Djoumer, Head of International Relations: Tel. +49 30 61 40 22 00, e-mail: fdjoumer@europa-cinemas.org    

Sonia Ragone, Project Coordinator for Italy: Tel. +33 1 42 71 83 64, e-mail: sragone@europa-cinemas.org

Lisa Püscher, Executive Assistant: Tel. +33 1 42 71 87 67, e-mail: lpuescher@europa-cinemas.org