Les actualités

Click here to follow the LIVE stream. 

The Sofia Innovation Lab will take place from Wednesday 18 to Saturday 21 March 2026. This year’s edition is entitled "FUTURE-PROOF CINEMAS: STRATEGIES FOR RESILIENCE, RELEVANCE AND RENEWAL" and will welcome 30 exhibitors from different countries across Europe.

Led by Maeve Cooke (Director, Access CINEMA, Dublin, Ireland), Ioana Dragomirescu (Cinema Manager, Cinemas Victoria, Timiș, Studio and Johnny, Timișoara, Romania) and Caro Raedts (Coordinator, Cinema ZED, Leuven, Belgium) the Sofia Lab will be a great opportunity to share approaches and find practical solutions to some of the big questions facing the film sector.

The live-streamed sessions will include a diverse range of topics such as: brand identity, promoting your cinema beyond the screen, developing effective content and marketing strategies through social media and websites, identifying relevant partnerships and collaborations for greater outreach and fostering connections. 

Themed sessions and practical workshops will give participants the space to share problems, innovative ideas and/or identify potential innovative programming and communication strategies.

Timetable for the LIVE sessions (indicated in EET, local time – Sofia, Bulgaria):

Thursday 19 March 2026 

11.00 am – 1.00 pm

SESSION 2 – Finding your voice: Cinema brand and identity

Introduced and moderated by Ioana Dragomirescu

Short debrief of the cinema visit

Tobias Waller (Kino Lucerna, Czech Republic) - Rebranding a legend: Integrating a Historic Cinema into a Modern Circuit.

Fabio Zenadocchio (Don Bosco, Italy) - From Parish to Cultural hub: Building a Community-First Cinema in the Roman Suburbs.

Ioana Dragomirescu (Cinemas Victoria, Timiș, Studio and Johnny, Romania) - Reopening 4 cinemas in 4 years: different identities, common brand

Q&A

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2.00 – 3.15 pm

SESSION 3 – More than movies: Engaging audiences through special programming and events

Introduced and moderated by Ioana Dragomirescu

Ioana Dragomirescu (Cinemas Victoria, Timiș, Studio and Johnny, Romania) - Our curated monthly series: creativity, exclusivity, identity

Anete Goldmane (Cesis, Latvia) - Dita Rietuma’s Selection: Film series with introduction from a critic, to build European Arthouse Audience.

Amanda Feldin (Bio Fagel Bla, Sweden) - Filmrullen – partnering with local restaurants: film and food.

Alejandro Arranz Garcia (Cines Embajadores, Spain) - Cervecines and Beyond: Creating Social Event Formats for a Modern Audience.

Q&A 

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3.30 – 5.00 pm

SESSION 4 – Communicate with your audience and build an online identity

Introduced and moderated by Caro Raedts

Marc Velinsky (Kino Central im Bürgerbräu, Germany) - From Fragmented to Focused: Developing a Coherent Marketing Strategy for a Cooperative Cinema.

Magdalena Klich-Kozłowska (Dolnoslaskie Centrum Filmowe - Lower Silesian Film Centre, Poland) - Beyond the Logo: Building a Bulletproof and Consistent Cinema Brand.

Short Case Studies on Communication strategies through different social media platforms:

Caro Raedts (Cinema ZED Leuven, Belgium) - The algorithm of Instagram anno 2026

Tobias Waller (Kino Lucerna, Czech Republic) - Facebook

Jakub Plášek (Kino Art + Kino CIT, Czech Republic) - Tik Tok

Maja Zrim (Kinodvor, Slovenia) - Letterboxd 

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Friday 20 March

10.00 – 11.00 am

SESSION 5 – Who is our audience? Data & CRM insights

Introduced and moderated by Caro Raedts

Caro Raedts (Cinema ZED Leuven, Belgium) - From survey to strategy: a dialogue with your audience

Magdalena Klich-Kozłowska (Dolnoslaskie Centrum Filmowe - Lower Silesian Film Centre, Poland) - Data driven programming for mission & margin: using audience data to balance programming and optimise schedule

Flora Woudstra (Cinema RITCS, Belgium) - Analysing the Audience: How the Cineville Cinema Subscription Helped Us Refine Our Audience Strategy

Short Q&A

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11.15 am – 1.00 pm

SESSION 6 – Who is our audience? AI tools in action

Introduced and moderated by Caro Raedts

Zoom session with a guest speaker Javier Pachon (Strategy Consultant, Executive Director & Head Programmer at CineCiutat, Spain) - AI is a colleague, not a crystal ball: a practical framework for working with AI

Eugenio Fuschini (Cinema Odeon, Italy) - AI in Action: A Beta-Test Case Study - R&D pilot project on using AI for audience analysis, programming logic, and workflow automation

Pen Yue Yang (LantarenVenster, The Netherlands) - Integrated Data & AI for Outreach: Using existing audience data and AI tools for optimizing outreach to underserved communities

Short Q&A

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2.00 – 3.30 pm

SESSION 7 – No audience left behind: inclusion and accessibility

Introduced and moderated by Maeve Cooke

Maria Trzeciak (Kino Pałacowe, Poland) - Cinema Without Barriers

Maja Zrim (Kinodvor, Slovenia) - An Accessible Cinema - Trial and error

Short Q&A

Andrei Jakab (Caravana TIFF, Romania) - Bringing European movies in cinema deserts

Mariles Stevens (Budascoop, Belgium) - The delayed ticket, an inclusive model for low-income spectators. How to make it more effective?

Short Q&A

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Saturday 21 March 2025

12.00 am - 1.00 pm

SESSION 9 – Stronger together: Collaboration between cinemas at national and international level

Introduced and moderated by Maeve Cooke

Maeve Cooke (access CINEMA, Dublin, Ireland) - A strategy for addressing “cinema deserts”: A national cinema exhibition network as a model for collaboration, growth and resilience

Caro Raedts (Cinema ZED Leuven, Belgium) - Europa Cinemas Training Boot Camp and regional collaboration in Flanders, Belgium

Arturo Duenas Herrero (Cines Casablanca, Spain) - Collaborate to Innovate project: Face to Face with European Cinema

Q&A

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3.00 – 4.30 pm

SESSION 10 - LAB DEBRIEF & RETURN STRATEGY

Long-term resilience: how to improve the sustainability of your programme and your team - collective debate What do we take home with us.