FNE: How has the Trieste Film Festival developed during the past years?
Cristina Sain: I came to the first edition of the festival as a volunteer in 1989 and then, step by step, I have taken on more and more responsibilities. It wasn’t easy and we went through some really hard times. In the last few years, however, the financial situation has improved, meaning we are now much more relaxed. But it is still a big challenge to keep everything under control. Over the years, the festival has developed into an annual event with many visitors, many international guests, many films and screenings, as well a wide programme dedicated to the film industry.
FNE: How satisfied are you with this year's edition of When East Meets West?
Alessandro Gropplero: While launching the focus on English-speaking countries this year, we were quite scared and we were asking ourselves: who in those countries will be interested in establishing coproductions with Central and Eastern Europe and vice versa? But this is also the main goal of When East Meets West: to discover possibilities. And we were really surprised with the record number of applications, 285 from 29 countries, which made the selection process extremely difficult.
FNE: Which trends and topics are most popular this year?
A.G.: There was an enormous variety of topics and genres, however a lot of projects focused on the history of Central and Western Europe. For example there were several documentaries about spies from the East or the West, sometimes even connected to the personal history of the filmmaker’s grandparents or parents. And we were very surprised to see a lot of stories that were especially linked to the United States, the U.K. & Co. For example we had projects from the U.K. connected to Bulgaria and projects from Latvia connected to the U.K. It was also impressive to see that many producers from Central and Eastern Europe are developing English language projects, which is quite a new experience in the history of our pitching forum.
FNE: How successful were the previous four editions of When East Meets West?
A.G.: Of course, after the festival we monitor the development of our projects. That is why we have a new section this year, Born in Trieste, presenting films made with the support of our Pitching Forum, among them Benedikt Erlingsson's Of Horses and Men, Tonislav Hristov's Love and Engineering produced by Agitprop, Tinatin Kajrishvili's Brides (Ad Astra Films, Gemini, Millimeter Film) or Ilian Metev's Sofia's Last Ambulance (Nukleus Film, SIA Bulgaria). And there are a lot to choose from. Approximately 70 % of the projects were completed, while the rest are probably still in the production pipeline.
FNE: Have you already got plans for 2016?
A.G.: It is always a big challenge to invite the right people to attend the forum, on the coproductions’ side, and to match the right projects with the right people. That is why at least one third of the participants come from the countries in focus. Next year you will meet a lot of Spanish, Portugese and Latin American guests here.
C.S.: One of the most gratifying proofs of our work comes from our guests. They recognize that we pay attention to every single director, actor or other professional attending the festival and that every single one of them is unique and very important. I strongly believe that initiatives like film festivals can contribute to a better understanding between cultures. We see, for example, how our audience has developed over the last years, from being quite skeptical to being fascinated and curious about the newest films and trends from Central and Eastern Europe. And through films and discussions, they come to understand this region better and better and they trust our programme and artistic approach. That's what inspires us every year.
