Every year, this festival held by the Bologna film library gives the public the chance to rediscover restored classic films. The seminar organised by Europa Cinemas is very much in keeping with the event, giving network exhibitors the opportunity to share their experiences of promoting classic films to young audiences.

Around twenty network exhibitors from roughly ten different European countries came to take part in the discussions. These were chaired, as they were last year, by Ian Christie, Vice President of Europa Cinemas, and, for the first time, by Catharine des Forges, director of the Independent Cinema Office, an organisation which supports the exhibition of independent films in the United Kingdom.

The seminar enabled exhibitors to discuss problems they encounter in their day-to-day work with young audiences, and the exchange of ideas was lively and enthusiastic. During the workshops, the exhibitors carried out a self-assessment: How is their cinema perceived by young audiences? Is their communication adapted to the audience they are targeting? How can the cinema be made more attractive? How can young cinema-goers be involved in the cinema and how can the film theatre be involved in the city as a whole?

By exchanging their programmes, the exhibitors had the opportunity to make critical comments and suggestions relating to the work of their colleagues and could therefore benefit from a welcome professional opinion from outside their organisation. 

A number of key questions were tackled: Where can prints be obtained? How can we face up to the reservations expressed by certain teachers or parents of schoolchildren or to the age restrictions sometimes imposed by the authorities? Is it possible to draw up a list of European films that can be shown to young audiences?

At the end of the seminar, particular emphasis was placed on two very contemporary issues. “Cinema and the new media: culture of young people/culture of the media” concentrated, in the era of YouTube, on new ways of consuming images. And Gianluca Farinelli, president of the Cineteca, discussed new opportunities for promoting restored silent films with the help of music, particularly electronic music.

The next seminar will be held during the next Il Cinema Ritrovato event. 


Pauline De Boever, Amandine Lebrat