15 participants attended, representing 7 of the 10 MEDA countries : Israel & Turkey (3 each), Palestinian Authority, Egypt, Jordan, Syria (2 each), Morocco (1). The job profiles were very diversified, ranging from top executives from important cinema consortium from Egypt, Jordan and Syria, down to project-holders in the process of opening arthouse cinemas in Tangiers, Jerusalem or Istanbul, and including also independent film distributors, focusing on quality cinema. The training included formal lectures on economics or digital technology, and a wide variety of hands-on case studies presented by professionals from all over Europe (including the Sarajevo Film Festival, a key example of how to rebuild a cinema market from scratch), Turkey (2 young distributors specialized in European releases), and the Middle East (such as Palestinian moviemaker Rashid Mashrawi or the only art exhibitor in Beirut, whose cinema remained open during the war). The conclusion was a full morning with Menem Richa, from Europa Cinemas, who presented 2 new Euromed Audiovisual II initiatives : Euromed Cinemas and Medscreen. The trainees also had the opportunity to extensively visit the most modern multiplex in Italy (14-screener Cinecity in Padova), where they received a detailed briefing on digital technology from its technical manager. They all attended some 10-15 movies at the Mostra del Cinema, thanks to a professional accreditation provided by the CICAE. On the Film Festival venue of the Lido, they were personally received by Irene Bignardi, Claudia Landsberger and Mariette Rissenbeek, Heads of the Film Promotion Board of Italy, Holland and Germany, who gave them best practice hints to catch European films and prints. The 15 ‘'Mediterranean'' trainees were in permanent contact with some 80 fellow exhibitors from 20 different European countries who participated to a parallel MEDIA training. All of them lived and studied on the Island of San Servolo, a campus owned by the Province of Venice, which was also the venue of CIRCUITO OFF, an independent short film festival that invited all Euromed trainees to screenings, meetings and parties. 

" I want to express my gratitude to the entire CICAE team for the unique experience you have granted us at San Servolo seminar during these two weeks. The seminar was amazing and in many ways, for me, a once in a life-time event which I will always remember and cherish. The combination of the interesting and skilful trainers and tutors with the variety of trainees from all over Europe and the Mediterranean countries which came from all aspects of the cinema industry has really widened my knowledge and empowered me with skills that will surely come in handy in the future activities of our distribution company. It was amazing to find out that the same problems we are having here in the local market, the same failures and successes with the arthouse titles and the difficulties of a rapidly changing market are shared almost identically by our colleagues from Turkey, Poland, France and all over the continent. I learned a lot from each of the speakers that presented their work to us while at the same time I think the socializing with distributors and exhibitors, multiplex employees together with representatives from small arthouse cinemas and cinematheques, was very important and interesting. Most important perhaps is the fact that you succeeded in bringing together representatives from dozens of countries that managed to communicate and socialize so easily and freely with one another. Some of the friendships that were created during those two weeks will last for years I'm sure, and this is thanks to your success in creating a pleasant and invigorating setting, atmosphere and schedule for the event. So I truly thank all the team of tutors and all the trainers that shared their knowledge without hesitation, unusually for what is common in our capitalist and competitive markets. "

33 participants attended, representing 5 of the 10 MEDA countries : Morocco (12), Algeria (10), Tunisia (8), Lebanon (2), Egypt (1). An important proportion of the theatrical distribution professionals of the Maghreb region were present, including film distributors, cinema programmers, but also film club / festival volunteers and representatives from national institutions. The training consisted mainly of ‘'hands on'' master-classes presented by professionals from both shores of the Mediterranean, on themes ranging from the history of cinema (French film-critic Laurent Delmas and former Director of the Algerian Cinematheque Boudjemaâ Kareche) to the ‘'Multiplex model'' (Nico Simo, from Luxemburg, VP of Europa Cinemas), and a strong focus on the daily work of distributors and exhibitors (with a wide panel including professionals from Algeria, Belgium, Egypt, France, Lebanon, Morocco, Switzerland and Tunisia); a full-day was dedicated to film education, in the presence of directors Michel Ocelot (France) and Jilani Saadi (Tunisia). Government officials from Morocco and Tunisia shared their views on State policies to support cinema.

All participants were invited as guests by the Carthago Cinema Days, the main festival of the region : this was not only an opportunity to watch films, but also to make deals : several films from Algeria, Lebanon, Morocco and Tunisia were actually bargained between the participants - the seminar was therefore not limited to transferring skills, but became a very concrete professional event. It concluded by an intensive workshop focused on the ways to improve the situation of theatrical distribution in the Maghreb Region (Morocco, Algeria and Tunisia).

25 recommendations were discussed and approved, as a set of guidelines for better practice for both the professional sector and the national & international institutions. These covered the following areas :

* Improve professional unity and professionalism
* Fight audiovisual piracy
* Make cinemas more attractive and film release more relevant
* Foster the film-club sector to gain more impact in a legal framework
* Trigger a proper film education focusing on young and school audiences
* Develop a proper set of support policies to exhibitors and distributors
* Enhance better film circulation between countries through intergovernmental cooperation

These guidelines are detailed in the downloadable report.

" I wish to say that I was extremely satisfied with this seminar, both in terms of organisation as well as in the quality of the speakers and the interest shown by the participants. I sincerely believe that this type of project will rapidly lead to networking between all of the participants to exchange experiences, share project ideas, and request help and support from those who can provide it. I hope that this experience will be carried out again in the near future in order to federate our strengths, draw conclusions from the projects that were put into motion as a result of this seminar, and carry on the training that was begun. "

Download the GENERATION BIG SCREEN Seminar Report EN - Part 1 // Part 2 //Part 3 // Part 4

This document includes a summary of the 40 master-classes presented in Venice and Tunis, the 25 recommendations made in Tunis, a list of participants. 

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