Puglia teaches cinema by making its knowledge and experience available through the CIRCE PLUS project, presented during the 13th edition of the Apulia Film Forum, the international co-production market created by the Puglia Region and the Apulia Film Commission Foundation (Brindisi, 12-14 December 2022).
The CIRCE PLUS project successfully follows the first CIRCE cycle "Common Initiatives to pRomote CinEma across Italy-Albania-Montenegro", funded by the Interreg IPA CBC Italy-Albania-Montenegro Programme 2014/2020.
"The project is a strategic resource to stimulate the economic growth of the areas concerned and the Apulia Film Commission foundation is the lead partner – says the Director of the Apulia Film Forum Alberto La Monica – while the other partners are the National Cinematography Center of Albania, the Film Center of Montenegro and the Molise Region. The main objective is to improve conditions for the growth of the cultural industries of audiovisual services, through cross-border initiatives, capable of strengthening the link between the participating regions and bringing together the key players to launch new productions".
And Apulia Film Forum is precisely one of the main moments in which sector experts, SMEs, producers, distributors, representatives of cinematographic centers and all the operators that revolve around audiovisuals in Italy, Albania and Montenegro meet to evaluate the birth of partnerships. “We offer the opportunity for discussion to allow for the development of skills and the creation of co-productions. The success and attention of the first project give us hope and underline how much ferment there is - continues La Monica - regarding the audiovisual industry, in the areas concerned. And in fact the productions have increased as well as their quality, proved not only by the participation of many films, especially Albanian, in the most famous festivals, including foreign ones, but also by the growing appreciation from the public".
Started in November 2022, CIRCE PLUS will end in April 2023 and will promote five more events including conferences, workshops and B2B in the regions involved, with the aim of enhancing the skills of operators in the audiovisual field and encouraging the development of new business opportunities in the creative sector through further consolidation of the network already developed with CIRCE.
