Interview with Manuel Damasio, the coordinator of CresCine
Manuel Damasio
Manuel Damasio is the coordinator of the CresCine initiative. We sat down with him to get a bird’s eye view of the exciting initiative.
1. How was this project created in Lusofona and in general? When was it?
Initially, the proposal was not solely created by Lusófona.
When the call got out we approached a number of HEIs (Higher Education Institutions) with whom we already had a strong R&I (Research and Innovation) connection, namely Tallinn University. We were already collaborating in several projects, namely under the FilmEU European University.
After those initial contacts, Tallinn and ourselves proposed a number of partners with whom we had previous positive experiences and that we thought would be interested in the proposal and that was how it all started. Initial contacts were made in October and November 2021 and we started working almost immediately and had a consortia in place soon after that.
2. What were the previous projects/challenges that led Lusofona to apply for CresCine?
Film and Media Arts are a core area of focus for us. We currently led the only European University in the field of the cultural and creative industries – the previously mentioned FilmEU – The European University of Film and Media Arts – and are involved in many other H2020 and Erasmus projects focusing on the film and media sectors.
We are leading or participating in all the Erasmus Mundus master programs in the area of film. Under the FilmEu Alliance umbrella, we are currently working on setting up a hub of innovation in film and media arts with locations across Europe.
Crescine is only a natural top-up to all these initiatives with its strong and clear focus on defining future policies and proposals for the increase of the competitiveness of the European film and media industries.
3. How many people are now involved in the project?
Lusófona currently has 14 people including non-research staff involved across the different WPs but we are considering bringing more resources on board in the coming months.
4. Why these 6 ecosystems (Portugal, Ireland, Flanders (Belgium), Denmark, Baltics(Lithuania and Estonia), and Croatia)?
Because of their differences and commonalities, they represent the rich and diversified European landscape of small countries but they also nicely depict all the pros and cons of these challenging markets.
5. What state of the market makes CresCine particularly relevant today?
Film and Media face a number of daring challenges. Impelled by the transformations in the creative and production process brought about by generative AI, or the transformations in business models and audience behaviors, resulting from changes in terms of consumption patterns and new regulatory frameworks, the fact is that the speed of change is more significant than ever and we urgently need research that can help decision-makers, but also other stakeholders making sense of what is happening and what the trends are.
By focusing on small markets, CRESCINE gives the stakeholders, in these often more fragile or less regarded markets, the opportunity to stay on top of these transformations and potentially profit from the opportunities they also entail in view of greater competitiveness and benefits for society as a whole.
6. What is/are CresCine's main objective(s)?
CRESCINE’s overall objective is to enhance the competitiveness and cultural diversity of the European film industry. This will be achieved by understanding, engaging with, empowering, and ultimately transforming European small markets through original research and piloting the results in 6 ecosystems. In their “smallness", these underline the challenges and drivers one must consider to increase the competitiveness of the EU film industry.
7. What are the next exciting events?
We will be participating in Barcelona on a forum dedicated to the cultural and creative industries on the 12 of July in the context of the opening of the Spanish presidency of the EU. After that, we will be actively participating in the next Berlinale in February 2024 where we will, for the first time, present our platform on the state of the art of the European film industry.
In between we will participate in several academic and industry events in order to network and disseminate our results.