Last week, STE president Marion Bouvier (NUFF and Tvibit in Tromsø kommune, Norway) and Vice President Joris Hoebe (New Noardic Wave) visited the UK!
Besides trying deep fried haggis, the trip was an important opportunity to see how our partner GMAC Film in Glasgow work in their context; the power of the network is in the exchanging of ideas, best practice, and inspiration. It also gave us a chance to speak with key political players who are advocating for a strong, creative relationship between the UK and Europe.
First stop on this short but impactful visit to the UK was Westminster in London, where Marion met MP John Nicolson – a supporter of the cultural exchange opportunities coming out of the growing partnership between Screen Talent Europe and GMAC Film.
Next was a visit to Film City Futures – an important part of the talent development landscape in Glasgow, followed by a tour of the beautiful Glasgow Film Theater and finally to the offices of our partners at GMAC Film. It was exciting to see that the screen industry in Glasgow is such a bustling hub of talent, which thrives on creative collaboration between charities, festivals and venues.
Vice President Joris Hoebe said:
“You can’t feel the vibe of Glasgow from your laptop, you need to see it for yourself as every partner works in a different context. I loved eating deep fried haggis and sausage at Guido’s Coronation Cafe and I loved the statue of Wellington in front of the Glasgow Museum of Modern Art that has a traffic cone on his head – the municipality will take it off but the people of Glasgow keep putting it on his head and this ‘game’ between the authorities and the people has been going on for 40 years. I love it, it tells me that we shouldn’t take things too seriously, instead we should enjoy the ride.
To be guided through the film landscape of Glasgow was a great opportunity to experience the context, to eat the Glaswegian food, meet the people of Glasgow and to see with our own eyes what a vibrant city and film scene there is in Scotland. GMAC and Film City Futures have some clever ideas and inspiring programs which I would love to run in our own workshops at New Noardic Wave”.
Meeting our partners in person and seeing their working practices and environments is something that is hugely important to us in the network. An important thing we took away from the visit is that our sector is mainly run by very passionate film and story-loving people, and although things in our sector can be made difficult sometimes due to budget cuts and inflation, it’s the people who run these programs and festivals that are making it worthwhile.
We’re looking forward to developing our relationship with the people and city of Glasgow further and hope to return to Scotland in March for the Glasgow Film Festival. Plans for exciting collaborations on upcoming cultural exchange projects are already underway, so keep an eye out for more news on our social channels!
