Day 3 of the Valladolid Lab centred on smart use of AI as well addressing concerns around the ethical. Following several presentations on how AI can help with efficiency to enhance the creative and strategic work cinemas do, participants worked in groups with AI to test drive its utility and limitations. And while technology may be advancing at a rapid pace, the foundation of independent cinema is still clearly rooted in community building and collaborative work practices. Rounding up the day’s presentations and discussions was an inspiring meeting with Young4Film, EU young film programmers.
From Busy to Brilliant: How AI is Helping Cinema Teams Save Time, Work Smarter, and Focus on What Really Matters
Mark de Quervain from INDY Cinema Group in the UK presented on the many ways in which AI can assist with the work that independent cinemas do. Resource scarcity has already been identified as a common challenge among Lab participants, which also represents network members more widely. Where AI can be really helpful, de Quervain said, is in taking on some of the repetitive, time consuming tasks in cinema admin and operations, freeing up staff time for the more creative and strategic work that requires reflective or critical thinking. “AI is there to empower you,” de Quervain said. Three major areas he suggested AI can assist with include: Campaigns – building marketing frameworks faster; Content – generating creative assets quickly; and Operations – especially regarding admin and reporting.
AI is especially helpful if you have ticketing data. Uploading such data sets into ChatGPT reduces the time required to analyse audience patterns and behaviours, which in turn can inform marketing and programming strategies. Another useful application of AI is in boosting food and beverage sales (for cinemas with cafes/concessions). Analysing usage can reduce wastage, and improve staff rota and cost efficiencies, too. AI tools save hours in analysing a range of data sets, reducing creative fatigue and enabling optimisation of processes and practices, according to de Quervain. But, he warned, verifying its output is absolutely crucial: “AI is always very polite,” meaning the human processes of refining, amending, and checking remain hugely important. “You have to own your own work, otherwise you’ll lose your connection with what you’re trying to do. AI should take care of the 40% of your time that you don’t want to use.”
Increasingly, AI is being used without policy or training, something de Quervain advocates for putting into place early on to ensure it is used in a safe and constructive way. Data privacy remains a concern: it’s important not to upload sensitive human data, or to allow AI unlimited access to your documents. De Quervain also advocates for always acknowledging its use when publishing or presenting anything with AI content generation.
While most AI tools have a free element, they can also cost a lot of money – something smaller cinemas with limited financial resources will need to consider in implementing its use. Moreover, as raised by Raika Puust from Cinema Artis in Estonia, most AI operate only in the English language and the translation tools aren’t always entirely accurate. Finally, asking the right question is key: “You can’t get the right answer if you don’t ask the right question,” de Quervain emphasised. “AI is a first draft not a final truth,” – checking, verification and human quality control are essential for responsible use of AI, which is not a human replacement, but hopefully a helpful tool for human use.
Tamara Visković from Kinoteka Zlatna Vrata in Croatia then presented Running a Smarter Cinema: AI from a Non-Tech Perspective, explaining how her team use AI to assist with things like determining the availability of certain films for distribution in Croatia; as well as first drafts of written Comms; and for extracting specific information from documents – this has, for Visković been a major time saver. Precision in writing prompts is essential, she said, and while it is helpful for content creation, Visković also sees this as a working draft, never publishing its output without editing and human oversight to ensure nuance, tone and identity remain consistent.
Raiko Puust from Cinema Artis in Estonia then presented on How Cinema Artis Uses AI to Tailor Campaigns for Every Film and Event. At Cinema Artis, Puust is one person working alone on everything, with no real budget. Using AI has assisted him in optimising work processes which has reduced the overall cinema spending by 30% and allowed him to put that revenue back into staff wages for the workers in the cinema cafe. Using AI to summarise movies and their key demographics in Estonia, Puust prompts the AI by asking things like: “Who is most likely to watch this film in Estonia? What keywords should I use in social media ads? Analyse the possible audience for movie X” This is most helpful for films your team haven’t seen. Even if you’re seeing a lot of movies – Puust said, having managed 505 last year – this would still be fewer than what the cinema is showing – 515 for Artis in 2024.
Participants then worked in groups with AI to model a range of cinematic operations that spanned everything from fundraising and social media marketing campaigns, and policy to AI implementation itself. Results were varied, with AI being less forthcoming about identifying companies that cinemas would not want to work with for their involvement in war or genocide.
Jon Barrenechea closed the morning session with his presentation Start at the Beginning: Finding Your Addressable Market. “The pattern of growth that justifies investment has to start with what’s possible,” Barrenechea said, “which is the number of tickets you can sell.” This is a shared principle regardless of context or cinema size. The steps are simple: 1) Define your geographical market and population – how far people will travel (this is typically around 20 minutes via car or public transport) 2) Multiple that figure by average cinema visits per capita, per year – every country has an average, and each city/town will have its own. Not all of those visits will belong to your cinema unless you are the sole provision in your market, because of local competition. But, Barrenechea said, if you can find out the competition’s admissions (through Comscore/Rentrak which you can subscribe to, then you ask: is your cinema achieving or exceeding its total addressable market (TAM)? This leads to being able to appropriately predict where you should be with the offer that you have, and it might be that you’re already exceeding your TAM, but if not, then you have potential for growth. Mapping the market geographically, admissions wise and demographics wise can also help inform development plans such as whether or not it would be advantageous to add another screen or location.
Building Communities in Cinema
After lunch, participants returned for a session on building communities in cinemas, beginning with a joint presentation from Lab leaders Erika Borsos and Catherine Lemaire. Questioning if it’s more important to attract more viewers or to build community and why that would be good for cinema, Borsos and Lemaire gave examples of collaborative partnership events they run with local LGBTQ+ and feminist groups as well as how Collaborate to Innovate funding has helped then work with schools on young audience programmes. “It’s about pushing forwards values important to your heart,” Lemaire said.
Lemaire and Borsos also talked about their respective Cineville and Non-Stop Kino subscription models. Adapted from Cineville and supported through CTI funding, Non-Stop Kino in Austria has increased visitor numbers and audience willingness to take risks on smaller titles, specifically targeting audiences under the age of 30. In the short two-and-a-half years that the model has been active, Non-Stop have reached more than 10,000 subscribers, a figure that continues to grow. In Brussels, according to Lemaire, after only three years, one in every three tickets purchased is a Cineville ticket. Though subscription numbers fluctuate throughout the year, Cineville have incentives to keep audiences keen, even in the summer months when subscribers can bring a +1 for free (for which the cinema still receives ticket revenue). Presently, 68% of Belgian and Austrian Cineville/Non-Stop subscribers are under the age of 30, whilst in the Netherlands the figure is 45%.
Michele Stefanie from Cinema Teatro Don Bosco in Italy then presented how his second-run cinema, which has an affordable ticket policy (€4 reduced, €5 full), has a vision of openness and a mission to bring cinema provision to and to become a cultural landmark for their community. Their team represents the neighbourhood they belong to: comprised of a mix of paid staff, local volunteers and ‘SCU’ (an internship style scheme for young people who volunteer in organisations but are paid by the state, not their placement organisation).
“We were a community from the very beginning,” Alex López Fernández from Cinebaix in Spain explained, presenting how his cinema has grown from grass roots beginnings. Zorana Daković Minniti from Dvorana Kulturnog centra in Serbia spoke about the hopefulness of their cinema mission, championing democratic values and working to make real and positive change for their community.
Simon Blondeau from L’Atalante in France spoke about their young audience engagement programme Les Passagers, which engages young people in creative and critical aspects of film exhibition, from programming to podcasting, presenting Q&As and acting as ambassadors for the cinema. Bringing fresh energy and a new perspective, the collaboration represents an exchange of experience and skills, building a robust future for cinema-going in Bayonne.
Young4Film & Moving Cinema: Meeting the EU Young Programmers
To finish Day 3, Lab participants met with Young4Film EU Young Programmers to discuss, in groups, six of the most pressing industry topics:
- Access and relevance of European cinema – group one spoke about mutually beneficial opportunity first: working with young film programmers, offering internships, talking with young people “do not guess!” They had hopes for film education in school and parents educating their children through showing arthouse films in the home. Later night time screenings were also on their wish list.
- Creating meaningful experiences – group two spoke about offering a wide range of films that use emotional connection as a way in. Cinemas are a cultural place, with high quality technical projection that offer shared experiences and community. Building community through events and discussion was viewed an integral to meaningful experience.
- Language and communications – group three advocated for young people speaking to young people: the best form of promotion is peer-to-peer. Newsletters and education were also cited, along with a desire for filmmaking workshops in schools, more filmmaker Q&As, and social media promotion specific to each young person demographic (school age youth via TikTok and Instagram; university age young people via podcasts).
- Identity and shared values – group four wanted inclusion to be at the heart of cinema, but without shying away from challenging film content. Again, creating a strong community hub with open spaces was discussed. A further need to feel represented in the films shown was also mentioned,
- Collaboration between young people and exhibitors – group five reiterated their wish for more filmmaker Q&As and special screenings for students, but there was also a strong desire for them to organise the screenings themselves. Collaborating with arts students on a poster design competition was suggested, as well as creating short film juries or committees. Most significantly, young people want a comfortable and informal space where they feel welcome.
- Vision for the future – group six finished the session by telling us all that for the vision for the future, they looked to the past. Cinema is a communal experience and must remain so. Openness and connectivity is something young people desire: “a way to express yourself”. Hopes for financial viability and political independence were expressed as well new technologies such as 360 degree cinema and VR.
