Universal Cinema Film & TV Journal’s Amir Ganjavie interviewed Anna Kopecka, Director of Programming for the Cork International Film Festival. Their conversation touches on the film selection process, COVID’s impact on festivals, and controversial filmmakers.
Amir Ganjavie, UniversalCinema Magazine (UM): How are you trying to differentiate your festival from other film festivals?
Anna Kopecka (AK): We are the biggest and oldest festival in Ireland. Of course, on one side, we are trying to promote and represent the Irish filmmakers and so we start with short filmmakers. We have a long tradition of presenting short films and we have a short program that is in competition and out of competition. Then we try to follow the filmmakers during their main journey if they decide to make feature films. We have a big selection of Irish feature films. I think it’s always important to represent your own country and your own filmmakers. We are an international festival which means you have international guests and we have international partners. So it’s always good to be able to show them the best of Irish film.
At the same time, we are also trying to represent Cork City itself. So we have programs that are focused on Cork artists, Cork filmmakers, or even Cork history because in 2025, we will have been going 70 years. We are building new partnerships and trying to have programs for Irish films to travel and visit other festivals. We had screenings in Germany, in Mexico. We will have a program of experimental film and Artists’ Moving Image next year in the Czech Republic at Marienbad.
We feel that our position in Cork and in Ireland is to present the best of what exists and what is newly available and all the new ways that films go so we have the luxury to show up to 200 films. Short, feature, documentary, fiction, animation. This is my fourth year and we started the Parallax a couple of years ago, which is a strand focused on Artists’ Moving Image and the experimental because our visual artists create works that might not be primarily for the film audience and we are just trying to build bridges and fill the gap because it feels like some people like to go to college, some people like to go to the cinema. When it comes to feature films, I feel like what is important is to bring the audience the best that is created and the newest, show what is actually happening because in Cork, even though it’s the second biggest city and it has universities and a lot of the foreigners are very multicultural, there are not many arthouse cinemas or many occasions for you to watch foreign films that are not the mainstream.
So especially for the students, but also anybody who’s interested in films, we are trying to show the films that are not so easily accessible and to create a shared experience obviously, because I think it’s part of what every festival has to do now. So we also have retrospective sections because I feel like you show the newest films, maybe you should also show some of the older films. I don’t think we are so specific. I feel like I’ve been working for film festivals for over 20 years and I think you see what other people are doing, you would agree with it or not and then you go your own way but there are only so many options when it comes to big festivals that are happening in big cities and what they can do. We are trying to be similar to let’s say Rotterdam or like festivals that have similar tasks as us, so we are trying to be open to many diverse filmmakers. At the same time, we are representing Ireland and Europe in our selection. Our shorts have been shortlisted for EFA, for BAFTA, for academic awards in the States. So I think that we are the place where other people also look for new filmmakers but I think the most important is just to present the film as an art form in its variety and to let people choose what they are interested in.
They might be interested in family films. They might be interested in our Green Screen section that is focused on climate change.We are trying to really open the doors for as many people as possible when it comes to filmmakers as well as our audience.
(UM): In terms of the selection and programming, how are the decisions made in your festival? Do you have different programmers? What is the relationship between them and you as the head of programming?
(AK): I think there are two ways to do the selection and the programming. One of them is, I would say, kind of French and German even though that changed a lot in the past years. The second one, is a collective decision, you have different voices and you are trying to let everybody be heard or the responsibility lies on one person. In the first model, you have to be confident enough and have enough trust from others to select the whole program himself. I was never interested in being the only person who is deciding because I love film in its variety, but at the same time, I know that I have some zones of interest and then I have some zones that I’m not that interested in and also comfortable in selecting them.
For example, I think LGBT+ is a section that you need someone who has enough knowledge in this area. When it comes to music documentaries, it’s good to have someone who really is able to combine the knowledge of what is important when it comes to music and what the audience might be interested in. As I said, we are a big festival and we have a lot of shorts and I think I have very specific ways to select shorts because you are not just selecting the films, but you are creating the programs. When it comes to our selection, we have open submission through Film Freeway and then we have preselectors. Every film is watched by at least two people. Then, they give us their feedback and then it’s either somebody from the programming team or we have previewers because we have 4,000 submissions. It’s very important for us to make sure that everything is seen and we are not just accepting films without giving any feedback. So we are trying to watch the films properly and then we select what we think is the best for the festival.
When it comes to feature films, it’s a little bit different because a festival of our status or size, we cannot only show the films that are submitted. We have to also show films that were awarded or were successful at other festivals. I have colleagues who are looking specifically for documentary films. I have a colleague, Donald Mahoney, who selects the shorts. My colleague Si Edwards is in charge of the documentaries. We have Asian cinema. A lot of animation and guilty pleasures, which is our classic strength that is focused on crazy terrible horrors or whatever that has a Cork status, but it’s sometimes really awful. We had a special screening in February and we had a huge success with Troll 2 which some people might not be able to survive. You need a special audience but it’s definitely something. I have colleagues that are looking for specific films, watching for me and letting me know and then I kind of have to agree on everything and have to sign it myself because I have to know what the overall shape of the festival looks like and to make sure that it really represents what we are trying to do, that we are not missing something, that I can say that this is the best selection we can give you this year. We are always trying to come up with something new.
(UM): When you are saying that you need to make sure that nothing is missing, does it mean that you have a kind of quota? A race or gender or geographical quota?
(AK): We don’t have a quota. We have our funders and they are giving us money that comes from public sources so if you have support from the Arts Council in Ireland, they are representing Irish people and they are paying us with their taxes. We have to take this seriously. And then we have other fundings. For example, Ireland and the European Union have their own interests. So they want us to show Irish films when it comes to the Irish funders and then European films and filmmakers. We would not apply if we felt that it’s compromising the program obviously, but we have to comply with their ideas.
There has to be a certain percentage minimum in the program. I don’t remember it ever being a problem. When it comes to diversity and inclusion, it’s always a fight. It’s difficult when it comes to gender and having enough female and non-binary filmmakers and producers represented. You have to always look for them and search. It does not come naturally because there are obviously more filmmakers in certain groups that are easily available. Also, we are always looking for films from underrepresented countries. Africa as a continent is always a problem. There is not enough money and force in the African industry. So not everything is available in Europe so we always look and we are trying to make sure that we are kind of representing all the continents and that even small countries have their voice because Ireland is an English-speaking country. It’s very easy to have a lot of Irish, Australian, UK, and American films because that’s like the first choice when it comes to language, right? You always have to look and you have to make decisions because we strongly believe that we have to be inclusive. We are establishing at the moment a panel to have opinions of young people around their 20s because you show films to the young audience and you are maybe not so young and maybe you are not showing them exactly what they would want to see. You think it might be too difficult for them or you might not completely know, you are kind of thinking for them.
So we are definitely trying to be as inclusive as we can. It’s not easy because not everybody feels that the festival is there for them and we can’t have a quota that we can always fill because there are not always enough films. Things happen. There’s a lot of outside influence but the idea is to make sure that everybody knows they are welcome and that we are really trying to represent everyone and to get everybody a choice to either show their movies or watch movies that might really be close to them because we have a long past behind us as a film industry where films were only representing a very small group of people. We are trying to work on this but at the same time, of course, I think it’s important that we have a lot of Irish and European films because that’s what the international audience and professionals expect from us, right? You may not go to Ireland to search for and hear from different continents. It’s very conscious decision-making and a struggle. Sometimes, people say you just choose the best films. This is not how it’s done. There are thousands of films and I don’t think everything is a competition. You can’t say this is the best film and this is not good enough because the films are just telling different stories in different ways.
(UM): In terms of controversy or controversial artists, for example, if Woody Allen or Polanski submitted their film to thefestival, are you going to show them or are there some artists you cannot show? I’m just curious to know.
(AK): Well, I think when it comes to controversial figures, it really depends, case by case. If you are controversial because you have maybe unpopular opinions or you are very daring as a filmmaker, it’s very different from if you were charged with criminal charges or if you were accused of crimes. It’s not just up to me. We have a board. I have a director of the festival and we have to make sure that we don’t support someone that we don’t want to so it really depends. When I was applying for the job, we had a long conversation about Polanski and his films. There are some other people that probably will never have their films at the festival. [laughter] So it really depends. We are really trying to be as open as we can. As you can imagine, Ireland is a strong Catholic country and it took a long time for it to become as open as it is right now. We are really trying to be open as much as we can, but then there are some political opinions and some personal background stories that we just can’t accept. I think it’s very similar at every festival unless they just like the controversy.
(UM): In terms of political pressure or geopolitical issues, do you accept movies from Russia right now or countries where the filmmakers are backed or sponsored by a totalitarian government?
(AK): This is, of course, very tough because we love Russian filmmakers and they have a great history, but unfortunately, the current climate, if the movie is supported by a state in any way, it won’t be submitted. We don’t want to punish people just because of where they were born and they might be very independent filmmakers. I come from a country that used to be part of the Communist Bloc. So I know very well that some filmmakers just get supported because it’s part of the propaganda and you have to be very careful. It’s always tricky because there are filmmakers that don’t have options, but I think it’s a personal choice and moral choice of what you do. You don’t have to actually make films under any circumstances if it means that you will not finish your huge film because it only can happen when it’s supported by the government. Then maybe don’t do it. We are trying to take each case and examine it but there are some limits. I think we are very open, as much as we can be, to almost any country in the world.
(UM): What is the importance of having a premiere at your festival? Are you looking for premieres or are you working more with established filmmakers or films when it comes to the international section?
(AK): We require the Republic of Ireland premiere for the festival for the simple reason that there are so many films, because everybody has to get a shot. I think that’s very fair and some of the Irish films and obviously classics are not premieres. I think it’s very tricky, everybody kind of wants to have that status. You want to be the first to show the film to the world, obviously, but I think it’s more important to really try to support the filmmakers. I feel like we should try to bring the films to Ireland but not fight other festivals somewhere else. It’s really more important that the film get students and that the filmmakers are happy, but we have to keep a certain level of exclusivity because it’s also one of the things that makes the festival what it is.
(UM): If you have the option to show a theme for the world premiere, do you prefer the themes that have been already built up or have already been recognized by other festivals prior to you?
(AK): We have world premieres, especially from the submissions, I would say. It happens in the shorts easier. It depends on where you are in the calendar and we are always happy to have a world premiere or international premiere. It’s definitely nice to be the first place where the filmmaker comes and shows the film and has the first feedback to help the film on the way. But it’s not the only thing because as I said, we are also trying to show the Cork audience what they cannot otherwise see, so we are trying to bring the films that won at other festivals or that are important. Somebody else discovered them, we are not so picky, but it’s a combination. We are happy to show films that we discover, but at the same time, we are also happy to show films that somebody else discovered before us.
(UM): You mentioned that you are trying to support Irish filmmakers and the locals. I’m just curious if you provide financial support or a theatrical screening contract. How are you trying to support Irish filmmakers or other filmmakers that got awards at your festival?
(AK): The awards at the moment are not financial-based, even though there might be some changes in the future. It’s more that we are really trying to support their premiere at the festival, invite them to come to meet professionals, to meet the audience, to have as much potential as they can. If I’m talking to other programmers from other festivals, I’m trying to recommend them the films. If you have a movie at the festival and the audience is really happy with it, it might get the distribution because the distributors are sometimes not sure if something will work, if it’s worth taking the risks because it’s a very tricky business. So when they see that the Cork audience comes and loves the film, they often maybe reconsider. It’s happened to us in the past that films have been refused by the distributor but then when they saw how successful they were at the festival, they took them into distribution in Ireland and the UK. So this is the way that we can really help filmmakers, not just Irish, but also anybody who is selected for the festival. The main aim is to help the film as much as we can to give it the best place when it comes to venues and days and to show it to everybody who should see it.
(UM): Did COVID in any way change the structure of your festival? Did it make you more interested in the online experience? I’m just curious about COVID’s long-term impact on your festival.
(AK): Well, the first year, we had to go fully online and then after that, we used a hybrid model when we created every program. We created our online streaming platform where we can have online screenings. We are just following the trends and looking at what the audience actually wants. I would say the first two years, the audience was really interested in online and they were happy to watch the films.
Since then, we’ve seen a little bit of decline. We see that the right holders sometimes don’t want to give the film for online screening anymore. We have two industry days and we have industry talks. So we can let them be accessible online, internationally, so that people who cannot be in Cork can watch, for example, the main talks and main events. I think that’s really important. Not everybody can and should always travel everywhere. Also, this way, we can invite guests that cannot travel because they are too far and it would not work for them regarding the dates, but they can join us online. So this definitely works. We also have a program for transition year students that is focused on mental health and we had to move it online. Now, we are back into in-person events, screenings, and discussions about mental health, but we have the online version and that’s for whenever the school is not able to come. Then we are looking at having some online screenings that are specific when it comes to the interest, target the audience, for example, work with an embassy and have a film from the country in the local language accessible to anyone who lives in Ireland, might speak the language or is interested. So we are trying to find a base.
It’s definitely changing a lot and I was very optimistic when it came to the online screenings. I was very happy that we were able to provide this because not everybody really comes to cinema, even though the main focus is cinema for us, but it depends on what people really want and we can see what they are interested in and not, and also what the industry wants because it’s very difficult if you can get only half of the program or one third. It’s difficult to explain why everything is not available. We have a competition for first and second features, European films. We can’t show all of them because many of the right holders say no to online screening. We have films from Mubi, Curzon, and other rights holders that have a streaming service so then it doesn’t make so much sense for us to have an online screening because obviously, they bought the film mainly for their online streaming services. So it’s really changing and we are always discussing it with other programmers and with other festivals to see what is working. It’s also very different in each country, I would say, or region.
What I see is that it’s not completely disappearing, but it works only in certain ways. You can’t try to have the whole festival online. It’s impossible and it’s probably not also what we want because last year, we saw lower numbers when it came to people visiting in-person events, not just in Cork but at all festivals in Ireland and even internationally. It was like 20-30% down, so we have to focus on getting the audience back to the cinema or getting new audiences to the cinema. That’s the main task and then we use online for what we can. We have events during the year online that work really well too.
(UM): Is there anything left that you want to add or that you feel might be interesting for our audience?
(AK): I’m not sure. There’s always something missing. The festival is really big and has some sections. As I said, we started the guilty pleasures or we have the culinary cinema, which is films about food or including cooking, and then people go and have dinner. I just think it’s nice. I’m just really trying always to get everybody to come to the cinema. I think it’s very important. I’m happy to watch a film that is an action movie from a big studio as well as something that was made by one person who struggled to make it till the end and had to ask all the favors from friends just to finish the movie. It’s really about the art itself and not to be too blind when it comes to what is supposed to be cinema. I think, if I can say something, a film festival is a really great opportunity to try something that would not be your obvious choice because I think that’s one of the things that the festivals bring. You can go and watch something that you can be surprised by and it can be uncomfortable maybe or strange, but it can also be a film that will stay with you forever. Because I think that’s how you know that the film is important, if you don’t forget it easily. I think that’s always something to always try.
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