The agenda included the panel New Paths for European Film. Distribution in the Post-Social-Media Era, as well as two case studies Best Practices – International Distribution & Marketing Strategies for European Arthouse Cinema illustrated via Creative Europe MEDIA funded films Flow (Latvia, Belgium, France) by Gints Zilbalodis (produced by Dream Well Studio in coproduction with Sacrebleu Productions, and Take Five), and Oslo Stories (Norway) by Dag Johan Haugerud, respectively.

Two keynotes were given by Adrianna Woroch, Head of Marketing at the Polish distribution company Velvet Spoon on Marketing Strategies outside the Box, and also by Eric Lehmann and Linda Fiolka of Germany’s Constantin Film Verleih on Spotlight to Box Office: Turning Attention.

Held on 1 and 2 October 2025, the event also included warm up-panels on 30 September 2025 in co-operation with EWIP and Explorer Konferenz.

The International Film Distribution Summit is a response to the fundamental upheaval in the independent cinema industry of the last few years. How can film distribution be reshaped so that it will anchor the visit of cinema theatres more profoundly in people‘s everyday cultural lives? What impulses, innovations and ideas have been developed internationally that will help emphasise the importance of independent cinema for culture and society?

IFDS is an international platform for everyone involved in theatrical film distribution. Distribution companies and innovation drivers from all over the world are invited and in the future, to discuss and exchange ideas and strategy models.

The International Film Distribution Summit is supported by the Film Fund Hamburg Schleswig-Holstein MOIN, the General German Film Board (FFA), Creative Europe MEDIA Programme of the European Union, and the Filmfest Hamburg.