SMART7 launched their third workshops for festival organisers
SMART7, the network of like-minded European film festivals supported by Creative Europe MEDIA, completed the third phase of their workshop program dedicated to festival organisers. With a focus on sustainable human resources, well-being and mental health, the two-day event took place in Madrid, Spain December 2-3, and was open to every festival organiser.
Members of the TIFF team, as well as the director of the Festival Elise Jalladeau attended the SMART7 2025 Workshop in Madrid where they discussed with our network partners about volunteering and how to build stronger, more resilient teams, as well as Inclusion, mental health and wellbeing in Festivals.
SMART7 has members from seven different countries: Poland (New Horizons IFF), Iceland (Reykjavik IFF), Portugal (IndieLisboa IFF), Romania (Transilvania IFF), Spain (FILMADRID IFF), Greece (Thessaloniki IFF) and Lithuania (Vilnius IFF Kino Pavasaris). Its aim is to connect festivals that share similar objectives and visions, while coming from different cultural and geopolitical areas of Europe.
Seeking to take full advantage of each member’s strengths and promote peer-to-peer collaborative learning, the program started in 2023 in Poland, with workshops coordinated by New Horizons, IndieLisboa, Thessaloniki IFF and Transilvania IFF on promotion & sales and sponsorship & fundraising.
The 2025 workshops were co-organised by FILMADRID with the contribution of all festivals in the network.
On December 2, representatives from New Horizons, Transylvania and Vilnius spoke on the topic of Volunteers and Sustainable Human Resources, opening the debate on best practices and how to prepare for the challenges that lie ahead.
The following day, December 3, members of Thessaloniki IFF and FILMADRID addressed the topic of Inclusion, Well-being, and Mental Health, illustrating the challenges and measures they have taken over the years. The debate was extended to other participating festivals outside the network.
