13.
10.
2025.
Others
Others
Lodz Film School invites you on the 16th International Small Cinemas Conference: Film Production in the 21st Century. The conference will be held on 13–15, October 2025. // PROGRAMME
Heads of the conference:
Lenuta Giukin, Ph.D - Modern Languages and Literatures, SUNY Oswego
Artur Majer, Ph.D - Film Art Organization Department, Lodz Film School
Anna Wróblewska, Ph.D - Film Art Organization Department, Lodz Film School
October 13, 2025
11:00–11:30 – Registration
11:30–12:00 – Conference Opening Remarks
12:00–13:30 – Keynote Speaker – Ewa Ciszewska, University of Lodz, Poland – Rectorate Screening Room Researching Animation Studios: Methodological Innovations and Ethical Challenges
13:30–14:30 – Coffee break / lunch (all coffee breaks and snacks in the Senate Hall; lunches on campus individually, e.g. cafeteria, building H or Z)
14:30–16:00 – Panel 1: WHAT’S UP? (Polish) – New Senate Hall
Moderator: Artur Majer
Magdalena Sobocińska, Film School in Lodz: Applications of AI in Film Production – Challenges and Model Solutions
Sylwia Szostak, SWPS University: Netflix in Poland: Between Global Ethos and Local Compromise (Netflix Brand in Poland – Global values vs Local Sentiment)
Dagna Kidoń, Piotr Złotorowicz, Film School in Lodz: Previews, prompts, promotion: The Use of AI in Independent Film Production
14:30–16:00 – Panel 1a: WHAT’S UP? (English) – Rectorate Screening Room
Moderator: Lenuta Giukin Tereza Czesany Dvořáková, FAMU, Czech Republic: Women in the Czech Film Industry: Statistics, Long-term Trends, and Possibilities for Change
Sylwia Frach, University of Opole, Poland: Feminist Production as Political Refusal: The Cinema of Nina Menkes
Pablo Sabater Cuevas, Jagiellonian University, Poland: Between Desire and Industry: Agustín Almodóvar’s Creative Contributions to His Brother Pedro’s Filmography
16:00–16:30 – Coffee break
16:30–18:00 – Panel 2: STUDENT RESEARCH PANEL (Polish) – New Senate Hall
Sebastian Maur, Film School in Lodz: Panel: The Intelligent Film Track,
Guest: Izabela Kiszka-Hoflik, IKH Promotion
16:30–18:00 – Panel 2a: UNDER THE SURFACE (English) – Rectorate Screening Room
Moderator: Bolesław Racięski
Óscar López-Iglesias, University of Santiago de Compostela, Spain: Promoting Linguistic Diversity in Audiovisual Media Beyond Official Recognition: The Case of Asturleonese and Aragonese Languages Petr Szczepanik, Charles University, Czech Republic: Structural and Symbiotic Barriers of Audiovisual Export from Central and Eastern Europe
Janina Falkowska, Wyższa Szkoła Ekonomiczno-Humanistyczna, Poland: Film Production and Film Release Negotiation Process – Old Style (based on Andrzej Wajda’s Archives)
19:30 – Banquet
October 14, 2025
10:30–11:00 – Registration
11:00–12:30 – Panel 3: ABOUT THE FILM MARKET (Polish) – New Senate Hall
Moderator: Anna Wróblewska
Łukasz Sobczak,: Overview of the system concept FPMS - FILM PRODUCT MANAGEMENT SYSTEM: Intelligent optimization of costs and business processes in film and multimedia production - the perspective of the architect and creator of the filmproduct.com
Kacper Thomas: Audiovisual Creativity in the Era of Technological Democratization – Who Makes Films Today?
Marta Mielcarek, Katarzyna Prędka, Slow Media Production Foundation: Ecology Coordinator – A Profession of the Future in Film Production
11:00–12:30 – Panel 3a: ABOUT THE FILM MARKET (English) – Rectorate Screening Room
Moderator: Tomasz Kożuchowski
Jeimar Steven Neiza Jr., School of the Art Institute of Chicago, USA: Analog Horror, and the Thematic Subgenre
Camilo Porras Sandoval, Johannes Gutenberg-University, Mainz, Germany: Beyond the Festival Film: Unpacking the Production of Privately Funded Costa Rican Cinema
Aakshi Magazine, Ashoka University, India: Distributed Creativity: The Ektara Collective
12:30–13:00 – Coffee break
13:00–14:30 – Panel 4: BIG LITTLE CASES (Polish) – New Senate Hall
Moderator: Katarzyna Mąka-Malatyńska
Iwona Morozow, SWPS University: (Un)Profitable Documentary: Between the Need to Tell Stories and the Realities of the Market
Tomasz Kożuchowski, Film School in Lodz: Film Production Trends in the Middle East under the Current Geopolitical Situation
Dariusz Dużyński, Szkoła Doktorska SGMK: (Not) Everything You Wanted to Know About AI in Film but Were Afraid to Ask
13:00–14:30 – Panel 4a: BIG LITTLE CASES (English) – Rectorate Screening Room
Moderator: Marcin Adamczak
Babsie Keulemans, University of Reading, UK: Cultural Sovereignty in Practice: Small Cinema and Māori Screen Strategy: A Conference
Petr Veinhauer, Masaryk University in Brno, Czech Republic: “In a lot of ways, the school is actually more professional than reality.” Reflections on Student Crews and Graduate Film Production.
Ecem Yıldırım, Concordia University, Canada: European Coproduction and Turkish Independent Film Producers: Exploring the Transformation of Arthouse Film Production Practices
14:30–15:30 – Lunch
15:30–17:00 – Panel 5: BEYOND THE MAINSTREAM (Polish) – New Senate Hall
Moderator: Iwona Morozow
Anna Huth, Krzysztof Kieślowski Film School, University of Silesia: Career Paths of Film Crew Members: Competence Analysis of the film:lab Program
Małgorzata Świderska, Film School in Lodz: Production Trailer in the Age of AI. New Tools in the Service of Communication and Film Project Development
Emil Sowiński, University of Lodz: Legal and Institutional Conditions of Short Fiction Film Production in Poland
15:30–17:00 – Panel 5a: BEYOND THE MAINSTREAM (English) – Rectorate Screening Room
Moderator: Barbora Kaplánková
Kornelia Boczkowska, Adam Mickiewicz University, Poland: From Celluloid to Digital: Animal Imagery and Alternate Models of Production in Experimental Film
Mihai Șerban Ghiță, University of Craiova & Babeș-Bolyai University, Cluj-Napoca, Romania: Synthetic Cinema. Generative or Degenerative? Novelty or Cultural Autophagy?
Nam Joo Huh, Loughborough University, UK: Embodied Counter-Archives: Co-Produced VR Documentary and Situated Memory in Yarli Allison’s “Seafarers”
17:00–17:30 – Coffee break
17:30–18:30 – Panel 6: READING THE TEXT (English) – Rectorate Screening Room
Moderator: Ewa Ciszewska
Barbora Kaplánková, Palacký University, Olomouc: Capturing and Becoming Horror: Analysis of the Filmmaking Process in “Shadow of the Vampire” (E. Elias Merhige, 2000)
Lenuta Giukin, SUNY Oswego, USA: Filmmaking as Allegorical Social Representation: “The Reenactment” (1968) and “I Do Not Care If We Go Down in History as Barbarians” (2018)
18:30–19:00 – Conference Closing Remarks
October 15, 2025
10:30 Guided tour of Film Łódź.
12:00 Visit to the National Center for Film Culture.
The conference is co-financed from budget of the Łódź Voivodeship Government.
Lenuta Giukin, Ph.D - Modern Languages and Literatures, SUNY Oswego
Artur Majer, Ph.D - Film Art Organization Department, Lodz Film School
Anna Wróblewska, Ph.D - Film Art Organization Department, Lodz Film School
October 13, 2025
11:00–11:30 – Registration
11:30–12:00 – Conference Opening Remarks
12:00–13:30 – Keynote Speaker – Ewa Ciszewska, University of Lodz, Poland – Rectorate Screening Room Researching Animation Studios: Methodological Innovations and Ethical Challenges
13:30–14:30 – Coffee break / lunch (all coffee breaks and snacks in the Senate Hall; lunches on campus individually, e.g. cafeteria, building H or Z)
14:30–16:00 – Panel 1: WHAT’S UP? (Polish) – New Senate Hall
Moderator: Artur Majer
Magdalena Sobocińska, Film School in Lodz: Applications of AI in Film Production – Challenges and Model Solutions
Sylwia Szostak, SWPS University: Netflix in Poland: Between Global Ethos and Local Compromise (Netflix Brand in Poland – Global values vs Local Sentiment)
Dagna Kidoń, Piotr Złotorowicz, Film School in Lodz: Previews, prompts, promotion: The Use of AI in Independent Film Production
14:30–16:00 – Panel 1a: WHAT’S UP? (English) – Rectorate Screening Room
Moderator: Lenuta Giukin Tereza Czesany Dvořáková, FAMU, Czech Republic: Women in the Czech Film Industry: Statistics, Long-term Trends, and Possibilities for Change
Sylwia Frach, University of Opole, Poland: Feminist Production as Political Refusal: The Cinema of Nina Menkes
Pablo Sabater Cuevas, Jagiellonian University, Poland: Between Desire and Industry: Agustín Almodóvar’s Creative Contributions to His Brother Pedro’s Filmography
16:00–16:30 – Coffee break
16:30–18:00 – Panel 2: STUDENT RESEARCH PANEL (Polish) – New Senate Hall
Sebastian Maur, Film School in Lodz: Panel: The Intelligent Film Track,
Guest: Izabela Kiszka-Hoflik, IKH Promotion
16:30–18:00 – Panel 2a: UNDER THE SURFACE (English) – Rectorate Screening Room
Moderator: Bolesław Racięski
Óscar López-Iglesias, University of Santiago de Compostela, Spain: Promoting Linguistic Diversity in Audiovisual Media Beyond Official Recognition: The Case of Asturleonese and Aragonese Languages Petr Szczepanik, Charles University, Czech Republic: Structural and Symbiotic Barriers of Audiovisual Export from Central and Eastern Europe
Janina Falkowska, Wyższa Szkoła Ekonomiczno-Humanistyczna, Poland: Film Production and Film Release Negotiation Process – Old Style (based on Andrzej Wajda’s Archives)
19:30 – Banquet
October 14, 2025
10:30–11:00 – Registration
11:00–12:30 – Panel 3: ABOUT THE FILM MARKET (Polish) – New Senate Hall
Moderator: Anna Wróblewska
Łukasz Sobczak,: Overview of the system concept FPMS - FILM PRODUCT MANAGEMENT SYSTEM: Intelligent optimization of costs and business processes in film and multimedia production - the perspective of the architect and creator of the filmproduct.com
Kacper Thomas: Audiovisual Creativity in the Era of Technological Democratization – Who Makes Films Today?
Marta Mielcarek, Katarzyna Prędka, Slow Media Production Foundation: Ecology Coordinator – A Profession of the Future in Film Production
11:00–12:30 – Panel 3a: ABOUT THE FILM MARKET (English) – Rectorate Screening Room
Moderator: Tomasz Kożuchowski
Jeimar Steven Neiza Jr., School of the Art Institute of Chicago, USA: Analog Horror, and the Thematic Subgenre
Camilo Porras Sandoval, Johannes Gutenberg-University, Mainz, Germany: Beyond the Festival Film: Unpacking the Production of Privately Funded Costa Rican Cinema
Aakshi Magazine, Ashoka University, India: Distributed Creativity: The Ektara Collective
12:30–13:00 – Coffee break
13:00–14:30 – Panel 4: BIG LITTLE CASES (Polish) – New Senate Hall
Moderator: Katarzyna Mąka-Malatyńska
Iwona Morozow, SWPS University: (Un)Profitable Documentary: Between the Need to Tell Stories and the Realities of the Market
Tomasz Kożuchowski, Film School in Lodz: Film Production Trends in the Middle East under the Current Geopolitical Situation
Dariusz Dużyński, Szkoła Doktorska SGMK: (Not) Everything You Wanted to Know About AI in Film but Were Afraid to Ask
13:00–14:30 – Panel 4a: BIG LITTLE CASES (English) – Rectorate Screening Room
Moderator: Marcin Adamczak
Babsie Keulemans, University of Reading, UK: Cultural Sovereignty in Practice: Small Cinema and Māori Screen Strategy: A Conference
Petr Veinhauer, Masaryk University in Brno, Czech Republic: “In a lot of ways, the school is actually more professional than reality.” Reflections on Student Crews and Graduate Film Production.
Ecem Yıldırım, Concordia University, Canada: European Coproduction and Turkish Independent Film Producers: Exploring the Transformation of Arthouse Film Production Practices
14:30–15:30 – Lunch
15:30–17:00 – Panel 5: BEYOND THE MAINSTREAM (Polish) – New Senate Hall
Moderator: Iwona Morozow
Anna Huth, Krzysztof Kieślowski Film School, University of Silesia: Career Paths of Film Crew Members: Competence Analysis of the film:lab Program
Małgorzata Świderska, Film School in Lodz: Production Trailer in the Age of AI. New Tools in the Service of Communication and Film Project Development
Emil Sowiński, University of Lodz: Legal and Institutional Conditions of Short Fiction Film Production in Poland
15:30–17:00 – Panel 5a: BEYOND THE MAINSTREAM (English) – Rectorate Screening Room
Moderator: Barbora Kaplánková
Kornelia Boczkowska, Adam Mickiewicz University, Poland: From Celluloid to Digital: Animal Imagery and Alternate Models of Production in Experimental Film
Mihai Șerban Ghiță, University of Craiova & Babeș-Bolyai University, Cluj-Napoca, Romania: Synthetic Cinema. Generative or Degenerative? Novelty or Cultural Autophagy?
Nam Joo Huh, Loughborough University, UK: Embodied Counter-Archives: Co-Produced VR Documentary and Situated Memory in Yarli Allison’s “Seafarers”
17:00–17:30 – Coffee break
17:30–18:30 – Panel 6: READING THE TEXT (English) – Rectorate Screening Room
Moderator: Ewa Ciszewska
Barbora Kaplánková, Palacký University, Olomouc: Capturing and Becoming Horror: Analysis of the Filmmaking Process in “Shadow of the Vampire” (E. Elias Merhige, 2000)
Lenuta Giukin, SUNY Oswego, USA: Filmmaking as Allegorical Social Representation: “The Reenactment” (1968) and “I Do Not Care If We Go Down in History as Barbarians” (2018)
18:30–19:00 – Conference Closing Remarks
October 15, 2025
10:30 Guided tour of Film Łódź.
12:00 Visit to the National Center for Film Culture.
The conference is co-financed from budget of the Łódź Voivodeship Government.