With the support of the Balearic Islands Institute of Cultural Industries (ICIB), and in collaboration with Ji.hlava IDFF, the city of Palma will this week host the Emerging Producers 2025 programme. Dedicated to documentary cinema, this training initiative will bring together a carefully selected group of European producers along with ten filmmakers based in the Balearic Islands. The programme will therefore also serve to boost one of the flagship disciplines of the region’s cultural sector, while fostering professional synergies between local agents and the international industry.

It was, in fact, the Balearic producers who inaugurated the initiative this afternoon. Alongside the team of the renowned Czech festival, the Islands’ professionals took part in an introductory session on the central theme of the programme: film distribution. Their first encounter with the international filmmakers will take place later today, at 7 pm, during a welcome event attended by Jaume Bauzà, Minister of Tourism, Culture and Sports, and Diana de la Cuadra, Managing Director of the ICIB.

Renowned figures such as Paolo Benzi and Irena Taskovski, both with extensive experience in the documentary sector, will accompany the operational leadership of Marek Hovorka, director of Ji.hlava IDFF, and Jarmila Outratová, Head of Industry and Training at the same festival. The comprehensive training programme will also feature the contributions of six different lecturers, all of them specialists in various aspects of film distribution. Overall, the initiative will offer a transversal approach, combining case studies, masterclasses and collaborative work.