The program took place over two days, 13 and 14 February 2026, in Potsdam and Berlin. It included a research conference at the Film University Babelsberg KONRAD WOLF in Potsdam, the official launch of the publication State of European Cinema 3 at the European Film Market within the Berlinale, and the consortium’s final general assembly.

Research Conference: Final Results of the CresCine Project

The first day of events, held on 13 February at the Film University Babelsberg KONRAD WOLF in Potsdam, presented the final results of the CresCine project through a series of thematic presentations dedicated to innovation, production and financial ecosystems, distribution, and the competitiveness of small European film markets. The conference was opened by Susanne Stürmer (President of the Film University Babelsberg KONRAD WOLF) and Manuel José Damásio (CresCine Project Coordinator).

As part of the session “From Domestic to International Audiences: Competitiveness in Small Markets,” one of the speakers was Dr Jaka Primorac, head of the IRMO CresCine team and researcher on the CULTMED project, who presented on domestic film audiences in small European markets.

Official Launch of the Publication State of European Cinema 3

On the second day of the CresCine events, 14 February, the official presentation of the third edition of the publication State of European Cinema 3 was held in the morning as part of the European Film Market (EFM) at the Berlinale. The publication offers the latest analyses of European film markets, with a particular focus on small markets and their development potential.

The event included panel discussions and roundtables on the future of the film industry in small European countries, with participation from project researchers and industry partners, including representatives of film agencies from the countries studied and stakeholders from European professional film associations. The event was opened by Manuel José Damásio (CresCine Project Coordinator) and Matthijs Wouter Knol, Director of the European Film Academy (EFA), a partner organisation in the project.

Final Consortium Assembly and the Future Development of the CresCine Initiative

In the afternoon of 14 February, the CresCine consortium’s general assembly was held at the European Film Academy (EFA) headquarters. The assembly addressed final reporting, plans for disseminating results, the Memorandum of Understanding, and the establishment of the CresCine Alliance as a platform for continued cooperation and promotion of the project’s outcomes. Representing IRMO as a project partner were Dr Jaka Primorac, head of the IRMO CresCine team, and Dr Aleksandra Uzelac, head of the CULTMED project and of the Department for Culture and Communication at IRMO.

The events concluded with an informal gathering marking the completion of the project.

The presentation of the publication State of European Cinema 3 is available at the following link, and a recording of the research conference can be found here. The full program of the Berlinale events is available here.

More information about the CresCine project can be found on the official website.

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The programme will take place over two days, 13 and 14 February 2026, in Potsdam and Berlin, and will include a Research Conference at Film University Babelsberg KONRAD WOLF, the Official Launch of the State of European Film Volume 3 at the European Film Market (EFM) during Berlinale, as well as the CresCine Consortium General Assembly.

Research Conference: CresCine Final Results and Outcomes

The first day of the events, Friday, 13 February, will be held at Film University Babelsberg KONRAD WOLF in Potsdam. The conference will present the final results of the CresCine project through a series of thematic sessions addressing innovation, production and funding ecosystems, platforms, distribution and exhibition, and the competitiveness of European small film markets.

Within the session “From Domestic to International Audiences: Competitiveness in Small Markets”, one of the speakers will be Dr Jaka Primorac, Head of the IRMO team within the CresCine project and researcher on the CULTMED project, who will address domestic film audiences in European small markets.

The conference will open with Opening Remarks by Susanne Stürmer (President, Film University Babelsberg KONRAD WOLF) and Manuel José Damásio (CresCine Coordinator, Lusófona University). The Keynote Address, titled “German Screen Production: Between Place Branding and Platform Localisation”, will be delivered by Susanne Eichner (Film University Babelsberg KONRAD WOLF).

Official Launch – State of European Film Volume 3 

On the second day of CresCine events, Saturday, 14 February, in the morning hours, the Official Launch of the State of European Film Volume 3 will take place at the European Film Market during Berlinale 2026. The publication presents the latest analyses of European film markets, with a particular focus on small markets and their development potential.

The event will feature panel discussions and roundtables on the future of the film industry in small European countries, with participation from CresCine researchers and industry partners, including representatives of national film agencies from the countries studied and stakeholders from European professional film associations.

CresCine Consortium General Assembly and the Future Development of the CresCine Initiative

In the afternoon of 14 February, the CresCine Consortium General Assembly will take place at the European Film Academy Headquarters, one of the project’s partner organisations. The meeting will focus on final reporting, communication and dissemination plans, the Memorandum of Understanding, and the establishment of the CresCine Alliance as a platform for continued collaboration and promotion of the project’s results.

The events will conclude with an informal celebration and closing drinks, marking the successful completion of the CresCine project.

More information about the CresCine project is available on the official website.

Cover photo: CresCine.

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This presentation examines the often-overlooked role of the U.S. government in shaping cultural life. Drawing from her recently published book Invisible Cultural Policy in America, Dr Redaelli explores how public administration fosters a pluralistic cultural landscape through multilevel governance and diverse democratic values. Focusing on the arts, humanities, and historic preservation, the talk traces key legislation that legitimised federal involvement and the evolution of cultural federalism across national and state agencies. To illustrate this process, the presentation provides national examples of programming as well as cases from Oregon, Minnesota, Maryland, and New Mexico. It also highlights intellectual debates that influenced shifting interpretations of cultural domains. Amid this fragmented governance, the concept of a pluralistic public culture emerges as a unifying principle aimed at strengthening democracy.

The lecture will be held in English. You can sign up to attend the lecture by February 25 at kultura@irmo.hr.

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In the field of academic publishing, five scholarly articles were published in the academic journals indexed in WoS / Scopus databases: Audiences, content diversity and streaming platforms in small European countries: Engagement, interaction with catalogues; Audience engagement with comedy films in small European markets; From Data to Impact: Assessing the Value of Cultural Heritage in the Digital Age; The global/local and omnivore/univore nexus: class divisions and cultural tastes in contemporary Croatia, and the Portrait of Croatian Film Industry. In addition, one book chapter, „Democratising Cultural Policy Through Participatory Governance,” was published in the international scholarly volume Cultural Democracy: Policy, Practice and Education. During 2025, two special issues of international academic journals (The Political Economy of Communication and European Journal of Cultural Management and Policy) were edited by members of CULTMED project, and work began on several edited books and volumes planned for publication in 2026, including a volume dedicated to the legacy of Dr. sc. Biserka Cvjetičanin.

Several competitive project proposals were submitted at the European and national levels, including applications to the Horizon Europe and Creative Europe programmes, COST Actions, and a bilateral project of the Croatian Science Foundation. Among these, the application for the Horizon Europe project CULTURAI – Cultivating Inclusive and Sustainable AI Policy for the Creative Sector was successful, with project implementation scheduled to begin in 2026. These new project activities will significantly contribute to strengthening the international partnerships of the Department for Culture and Communication.

In 2025, CULTMED achieved synergies with complementary research initiatives coordinated by and involving CULTMED researchers. Dr. sc. Paško Bilić coordinated the Croatian Science Foundation project DEVELOPER – Digital Data, Infrastructures and Development, while Dr. sc. Jaka Primorac coordinated the Horizon Europe project CresCine – Increasing the International Competitiveness of the Film Industry in Small European Markets. CULTMED researchers also continued their regular participation in the European projects, such as Compendium of Cultural Policies and Trends (Jaka Primorac) and in the project Media Pluralism Monitoring (Paško Bilić).

Throughout 2025, CULTURELINK and CEMEDIG centres conducted their regular activities, serving as key research and communication infrastructure for the CULTMED project and as a platform for long-term cooperation in the field of cultural and media research.

In 2025, four Culturelink guest lectures have been organised. In June, Helena Popović delivered the lecture “Media Hunting of Migrants: Racialised Representations of Migrants in Croatian Media.” In September, two lectures were held: Paraic Mc Quaid presented “Basic Income for Artists: Evaluation of the Irish Pilot Project,” and Katharine Sarikakis delivered “The Future Reel: Young Europeans Shaping the Film Industry.” The final guest lecturer in Culturelink Guest Series was Lilian Richieri Hanania, who analysed “Twenty Years of the UNESCO Convention on the Protection and Promotion of the Diversity of Cultural Expressions: From Negotiation to Implementation.”

Within the CEMEDIG centre, several public debates and round tables were organised, including a discussion on the European Media Freedom Act, the public forum “European Union Digital Decade Policy – Regulation, Development and Social Impact”, and the summer school “Political Economies of the Media – Theories and Methods.”

Special attention was devoted to the education of early-career researchers through doctoral studies, summer schools, workshops, and mentoring. In December, Barbara Lovrinić-Higgins, an assistant at the Department for Culture and Communication, defended her doctoral dissertation “Re-working Cultural Memory and Heritage in the Digital Age: Cultural Policies for LAM Institutions from the EU Perspective” at the Faculty of Dramatic Arts in Belgrade. Sunčana Franić completed a specialist postgraduate programme, Preparation and Implementation of EU Projects, focusing on the topic “Sustainable Development of Health and Rural Tourism in the Vicinity of the City of Petrinja: Construction and Equipment of an Apitherapy Clinic and Api-Inhalation Chamber.”

CULTMED researchers actively contributed to the work of European networks and professional and academic associations. Ana Žuvela was elected Vice-President of the ENCATC network’s Board, while Paško Bilić serves as Coordinator and Jaka Primorac as a Board Member of Research Network 18 – Sociology of Communication and Media, within the European Sociological Association (ESA RN18).

CULTMED researchers also participated in the organisation and implementation of numerous international conferences, round tables, summer schools, as well as public debates, forums, and professional events focused on cultural and media policies, digital transformation, and social development.

The Department for Culture and Communication of IRMO will continue implementing the CULTMED project in 2026, with the aim of further strengthening academic excellence, international cooperation, and provide contributions to the development of democratic cultural and media policies.

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According to the findings of the research finalised in 2024, Croatia has a strong production services incentive scheme that attracts foreign productions and contributes to export volume. Public support for film production and development in Croatia is relatively low, comparable to Estonia and Lithuania. The data also show low cinema attendance during the research period from 2014 to 2022, which is partly explained by infrastructural constraints and ticket prices. During the same period, domestic films achieved moderate success at international festivals, while their presence on VoD platforms has been gradually increasing. The report also highlights that domestic audiences are too small to sustain local film industries on their own in all the countries studied, and that small European countries address this challenge through different strategies.

The text in the Croatian Film Chronicle is available on the journal’s website, while the interactive portrait of the Croatian film industry (in English) is available here. The translation from English was prepared by Lucija Gegić. More information about the CresCine project and other available reports can be found on the project’s website.

Photo: Croatian Film Association

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The event was held on the occasion of Public Domain Day, celebrated on 1 January, as well as the recent global celebration marking 25 years of the Wikipedia.org project. The discussion focused on a critical reflection of local challenges related to the development and sustainability of open knowledge systems. Special attention was given to issues of working within smaller language communities, limited resources, and the relationship between global digital platforms and local cultural and scientific ecosystems.

Participants in the program included CULTMED project associates Dr Jaka Primorac and Dr Paško Bilić, as well as IRMO library librarian Maja Hoić, who, alongside the roundtable discussion, contributed to the debate on open knowledge from the perspective of research on technology, culture, and public goods. The moderators were the CULTMED project leader, Dr Aleksandra Uzelac, and Zrinka Džoić from the University of Zadar.

In addition to IRMO, representatives of the Miroslav Krleža Institute of Lexicography, the Multimedia Institute, and the Centre for Documentation of Independent Culture (AbcDNK) also presented their experiences and projects, covering topics such as the development of digital encyclopedias, open publications, independent culture archives, and advocacy for participatory models of knowledge governance. Introductory presentations were delivered by Tomislav Medak (Creative Commons HR) and Željko Blaće (Multimedia Institute, HrW, and the GLAM Wikimedia initiative), while the presentations also included contributions from Dr Nataša Jermen and Dr Zdenko Jecić (Miroslav Krleža Institute of Lexicography) and Miljenka Buljević (Centre for Documentation of Independent Culture – AbcDNK).

The discussion also addressed questions about the future of open knowledge in light of current European initiatives such as EDIC Digital Commons, which aim to establish a European digital space based on the values of the commons, interoperability, and cooperation. The contribution of IRMO’s researchers particularly emphasised the importance of considering regulatory policies, institutional capacities, and the long-term sustainability of digital public goods in the cultural and scientific sectors.

Cover photo: MaMA

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The book brings together contributions by international authors from the fields of cultural sociology, cultural studies, media studies, and the sociology of work. It presents the results of recent research on creative labour and offers empirical analyses from various European countries and across different sectors of the cultural and creative industries. Particular emphasis is placed on working conditions and professional trajectories of cultural and creative workers, the relationship between cultural, tax, and economic policies and creative work, tensions between the discourse of the creative economy and lived working experiences, as well as possibilities for more just and sustainable models of work in the cultural sector.

The book contributes to current debates on work, cultural policy, and social inequalities in the European context, and its publication is expected in May 2026.

More information about the book, including the list of chapters and biographies of the contributing authors, is available on the Routledge publisher’s website, where pre-orders for the book can also be placed via the following link.

Featured image: Routledge

The post Announcement of the forthcoming edited volume: Creative and Cultural Work in Europe (Routledge) appeared first on Kultura.

The Box Office Simulation Tool uses historical data from the Film Industry Data Repository (FIDA) to estimate box office outcomes based on variables such as genre, language, and budget. The tool is free and can be easily accessed online. This allows users to gain insights into the potential commercial reach of films in specific European markets.

The development of the tool is based on datasets collected from several relevant sources, including TMDB, Wikidata, Cinando, Lumiere Pro, the European Audiovisual Observatory, International Showtimes, as well as festival data collected directly by the CresCine project. A particular strength of the tool lies in its strong coverage of small European film markets, which are often overlooked by comparable commercial analytical solutions.

The Box Office Simulation Tool expands CresCine’s data ecosystem by leveraging FIDA’s comprehensive data repository to create an application that industry professionals can use to find forward-looking insights into trends and projections within the European film market. In doing so, CresCine continues to strengthen its role in developing analytical tools that connect research, industry, and cultural policymaking in the field of film.

The launch of the Box Office Simulation Tool is part of CresCine’s broader effort to improve access to data and analytical resources and to support more informed decision-making within the European film industry.

The full newsletter is available here.

More information about the CresCine project can be found on the official website.

Header photo: CresCine

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The dissertation was developed within the CULTMED project as part of the PhD programme in Cultural and Media Management at the Faculty of Dramatic Arts in Belgrade. Through its thematic focus and methodological approach, the research further deepens the Department’s ongoing work in the fields of digital culture and cultural policies.

The evaluation committee emphasised that “the dissertation by Barbara Lovrinić Higgins meets the highest academic and methodological standards and provides an original contribution to heritage studies, media theory, and cultural policy. Moreover, it successfully combines conceptual reflection with empirical evidence and opens up new directions for future research and practice in the field of digital cultural heritage.”

As a prelude to the scholarly publications emerging from this research, we share a link to an article published in IRMO Aktualno, in which Barbara analyses the impact of European Union policies on the digital transformation of libraries, archives, and museums, with particular emphasis on their institutional convergence into the concept of “memory institutions”.

We congratulate Barbara on her very good doctoral dissertation and look forward to the continuation of our joint research collaboration.

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Release of the State of European Film Vol. 3 and CresCine Closing Summit at the Berlinale

CresCine invites industry professionals to the CresCine Closing Summit: State of European Film 2026+, taking place on 14 February 2026 at the European Film Market, held as part of the Berlinale. The event will bring together leading decision-makers, policymakers, and key stakeholders from across the European film industry.

This exclusive session, open to 100 industry leaders only, marks the official release of the third volume of CresCine’s annual report, The State of European Film. The publication delivers research-backed recommendations developed within the CresCine project, addressing leaders across production, distribution, financing, policy, and innovation. The report focuses on the key challenges and opportunities facing European film in 2026 and beyond.

Registration for the event is available via this link.

The full newsletter announcing the summit can be accessed here.

FIDA – a new tool for film industry data

This month, CresCine also launched the Film Industry Data Repository (FIDA) – a free, interactive data platform designed to analyse European film industry data. FIDA aims to address the fragmentation of industry data by providing a centralised overview of the European film lifecycle, from festival premieres to VOD availability.

The platform currently features a VOD dashboard, allowing users to track when films enter VOD catalogues, the duration of their availability, and variations in distribution across platforms and genres. From January onwards, CresCine will release new analytical dashboards on a weekly basis, further expanding the visualisation of the European audiovisual landscape.

FIDA integrates data from multiple international sources, including IMDb/TMDB, Wikidata, Lumiere Pro, Cinando, International Showtimes, and others, combining insights on festival circulation, theatrical distribution, and digital presence. The platform is particularly valuable for small European markets, which have so far lacked comprehensive data support for distribution planning and benchmarking strategies.

The full newsletter with detailed information about FIDA is available here.

More information about the CresCine project can be found on the project’s official website.

Cover photo: CresCine

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