Day 4 of the Audience Development and Innovation lab began with conversations around the current and potential future use of AI in film exhibition, spanning generative AI, environmental impact, risks and benefits and how it ultimately creates efficiency and (mis)understands humans. In the afternoon, the conversation turned to inclusive and accessible programming, organisational values and integrating collective well-being into film exhibition as a holistic policy.
What’s AI got to do with it?
Madeleine Probst from Watershed approached the topic from a pragmatic if slightly sceptical position and talked first about the risks of using AI. As an organisation with an environmental policy, implementing AI without contemplating its impact would be contradictory to Watershed’s guiding values. At the same time, individuals within the wider staff team were already using AI, especially around writing, or to assist them with specific access needs. Finding the balance between the benefits and the risks, whilst being mindful of the nature of the data being fed into AI, led Watershed to work with an external company called Careful Industries. Primarily engaged as a consultant but with the potential to widen their input into staff workshops in the future, Careful Industries are helping guide Watershed through using AI in which that they, as an organisation with clear ethical values, feel comfortable with. Probst said that Watershed will be implementing “AI tokens”, as a way to track how much they are using AI and what for – measuring and evaluating the impact, ethical implications human affect.
Mark De Quervain, CEO Action Marketing Works Ltd., INDY Cinema Group then presented “From Busy to Brilliant”, and explained how AI is used by INDY, a group of 300 cinemas, of varying sizes and locales. While the myth around AI is that it’s risky and highly technical, De Quervain sees it as being able to help with simple, everyday tasks and to fine tune marketing and strategy needs. Examples given included newsletter drafting, job descriptions, team structures, executive summary reports, post-meeting minutes and follow-up docs. The benefits span: saving time in draft creation, reducing creative fatigue, encouraging faster experimentation which in turn gains time to focus on strategy, audience development, revenue and management.
De Quervain also gave the example of using AI for smaller films – a challenge spoken about on Day 3. For smaller films, awareness is very low among the general population, and AI programmes like ChatGPT can come up with different ideas about how to set up a campaign, such as getting people to watch trailers and then rate them out of five, giving you a data set from which to re-target. If 60% of most email newsletter customers only go to the cinema two to three times per year, and the majority of people don’t actually read their newsletters, AI could also be used to focus on the infrequent cinema-goers and come up with detailed week by week, day by day, segment by segment options for communications strategies for getting them more involved. ChatGPT, De Quervain says, can create such a CRM calendar in under two hours.
Whether its content or strategy, there are various ways in which AI can be integrated into film exhibition work, to optimise efficiency. AI, De Quervain says, is an enabler and has the potential to free people up to focus on building relationships and leading strategic change. It is, however, not a complete replacement for people, De Quervain admits, as you still need to really understand what you are asking it to do, and how it will arrive at its findings so that you can really be sure you’re getting the most out of it, but investing in a professional membership (and De Quervain recommends multiple AIs, so that you can cross check and compare the results), should really take care of “the 40% of your time you don’t love using.” De Quervain firmly believes: “The future of cinema is smart, human-led, and AI-assisted.”
Pavel Prozavnik from Kino Pilotů presented the ways in which they use ChatGPT as an “assistant”: to summarise and write text for marketing purposes; to draft and brainstorm; to format unformatted information and data; and to generate custom visuals or design inspiration. Prozavnik said they also use generative AI to subtitle videos and to translate those subtitles, making their marketing materials more accessible and sharable online. The bottom line for Prozavnik is that “Video AI is free.” AI extensions for Google sheets and Notion have also proved helpful for a cinema with limited resources as it helps summarise, analyse and sort, as well as offering insights, planning and task management. It is, however, Prozavnik concedes, an assistant rather than a replacement for humans, as it can’t access the cultural nuance, emotional connections, or “human touch” of human staff. “Only you know your audience,” Prozavnik said, “think of AI as a helpful intern.
Participants then divided into groups to work with AI as a marketing tool for an imagined or upcoming film release marketing campaign. ChatGPT was asked to create campaigns in six different countries and for six different films. Some of its ideas were very good but, on the flip side, it didn’t always understand regional specificities or cultural differences such as, even after being asked – in Greek language – to focus on the wider Cypriot population, gearing its suggestions towards English language viewers. Fundamentally, AI is only as useful as the information you feed into it: it needs an existing data set from which to pull or generate its answers. Many of the ideas it generated were obvious for marketeers, with some amusing asides – driving a formula one race car through a city centre would not, ChatGPT said, be legal; it would, however, be an event that would almost certainly “go viral”. It has a penchant for higher budgets and didn’t always seem to know who the most suitable influencers would be for arthouse film marketing campaigns, but in several instances it was able to capture the spirit of the film, or help learn from comparable or unsuccessful campaigns, and it certainly offered a comprehensive “to-do list”. It didn’t always know how much work its suggestions would be for the team exacting its initiatives but one group in particular warmed to its presence, describing it as “the sixth member of our team”.
Developing Inclusive Programmes
In the afternoon, participants turned their attention towards inclusive programming and organisational culture that centres wellbeing and inclusive values. Miranda van Gelder presented SenCinema: three 45 minute sensory short film screenings that focused on heightening individual senses to cater to a more inclusive audience; there were different scents and a fan in the room to circulate different aromas, a sign language interpreter, and other sense specific offers. Making the experience inclusive also means paying attention to your online offer, including making the website more accessible. To ensure the experience was sensory, immersive and safe for all viewers, they did not arrange photography of the screening or audience. It is, however, an expensive project to run, so while it was successful as a pilot (three screenings with around 30 attendees at each screening), it would need financial support to be a sustainable, ongoing proposition.
Arianna Issoglio from Cinema Baretti in Turin spoke about their parent and baby screenings, focusing on ways to make it easier and more accessible for new parents to attend, from implementing baby change tables to milk warming stations, providing the right conditions is key. They also ran an accessible cinema project and a special “pay it forward” ticket offer. Fundraising for the cinema meant setting aside some of the funds to allow people who need it to come for free. This was also a young audience initiative, intended to encourage young people without the financial means to attend.
Joanna Stankiewicz from Kino Pałacowe in Poland spoke about Cinema Without Barriers, a project launched in 2022, to enable them to bring mechanical and relational accessibility to their audiences: adding a ramp doesn’t necessarily mean wheelchair users will come to your venue. A lot of minorities have been excluded from culture for many years and so inclusive communication, relationship building, providing information in accessible ways and sharing practical information is crucial. Continuing to assess what barriers remain after every accessible iteration is also important, and placing the accessible information up top is essential – people who have specific access requirements will not want to search your website to find out if you cater to them. Building relationships with local schools and NGOs is important but it is important to remember that people with disabilities are everywhere and that the offer has to be regular – not just a one-off event. The programme has been expanded into four other neighbouring countries, with further research taking place in smaller towns in the region. Following the success of the programme, Stankiewicz says they formed Forum Without Barriers, to connect industry stakeholders and to discuss accessibility as a wider collective, advocating for legislative changes in Poland. One especially important finding is that offering more accessible cinema has often been the first time for some that they have been able to attend the cinema with their families or friends. Supported with funds from Europa Cinemas’ Collaborate to Innovate initiative, they have also created an Accessible Cinema Toolbox for other cinemas to use.
Developing work cultures that centre wellbeing and inclusion
Madeleine Probst from Watershed spoke about the importance of knowing and sticking to your organisational values, extending that to thinking about who is included in the team and where are there gaps: “If your team doesn’t reflect your community,” Probst said, “you won’t attract that community.” Watershed offer coaching and restorative people practices, as well as having an anonymous CEO email inbox, so that staff can ask questions without fear of repercussions. There are also different ways in which people can apply for jobs: through video or voice notes instead of just offering written application forms, and they provide interview questions in advance to ensure that a wider pool of people would feel confident to apply. Staff training and performance reviews have also improved and expanded so that the staff can continue to grow and upskill. Finally, Watershed are implementing The Resolution Framework, an “integrated people policy” to help manage staff needs.
Marlene Hofmann from Casablanca Filmkunsttheater in Germany spoke about collective working as a practice of inclusion and wellbeing. Their cinema motto is “Cinema with Courage”, which means to them: listening, admitting to difficult truths, and building care and connection. “We do all the learning by doing,” Hofmann said, and they don’t have fixed roles, either – they contribute “based on energy and curiosity”. Casablanca has a flat structure, rest is part of their work, and they share ownership of everything. Furthermore, their understanding of cinema labour is also as emotional labour, which means there has to be a spirit of openness and accountability, but without exhausting each other. Collective work is a practice that the team have to be committed to: there is no “boss” to step in if a conflict arises, the team must work to repair and take responsibility for the conflict in a collective way. They even extend this ethos to their audiences, creating a space that is participatory: open to activists, communities and organisations beyond the team. People contact them to use the space, to host Q&As, and the cinema has become a safe haven for many. With 70 volunteers, it is a huge undertaking to move to collective working for most, but even small steps like co-curation as a starting point, “pay what you can” screenings, or open meetings and emotional check-ins, could open up traditional top down cinema work to a more thoughtful and collective practice.
The final presentation of the day was from Wojtek Kampa from Kino Pod Baranami in Poland, titled, “Taking the team out of their comfort zone without leaving anyone behind”. Much like The Return Strategy that Probst, El Mesaoudi and van Gelder suggested participants use as a reflective tool for bringing ideas back to wider teams after an inspiring but intense few days, Kampa’s presentation focused on listening as much as speaking up. Introducing changes for an entire team can be daunting, but if the changes are based on processes you already know, then it will be easier for everyone to adapt to. Kampa also spoke about the importance of recognising and speaking up when you need something; being open and honest about challenges, even when that feels difficult or even vulnerable; and ensuring everyone is included when change is being implemented.
Working collaboratively is at the heart of what the network do and further information about training and funding can be found on the Europa Cinemas website, including their new Training Boot Camps initative.
