“Independent” Passion
The Coordinamento dei Festival del Cinema in Sicilia (Coordination of Sicily Film Festivals) was founded in October 2011 and counts 26 festivals taking place throughout Sicily. The goal of the FCS Coordination is to become a supporting tool for film festivals by following two main directions: an internal one, that aims to organize a steady network among the different initiatives; and an external one, oriented towards being assessed as the official interlocutor with regional, national and local institutions, as well as sponsors and workers in the industry. FCS is to be intended as an open organization, where every single participant’s independence is highly respected and valued. Film Festivals are a very important cultural lab and in this sense, the Coordination represents a single subject that approaches the Sicilian Region, the Ministry of Cultural Heritage and local authorities with an assertive role and more importantly, a propositional attitude. The strong cultural values represented by our festivals are what independent people working in the
film industry rely on, not least because often in Italy culture is ill-treated, even by the very same people who work within the industry. The Coordination is therefore committed to foster and support independent Cinema, by building its culture from the bottom. There’s no alternative. Sicilian Film Festivals, either small or large, present all kinds of film works between fiction and documentaries, together with several artists, authors and professional workers in the sector. These events, on the whole, represent the very “first network” for independent Cinema, and remain the only space where even films with usually no theater distribution can meet “their own” public. A network providing an interesting and desirable “user base” to producers and distributors as well. One of the distinctive features of our festivals is the strong bond with local areas, with which they build a relationship of mutual exchange. The festivals make therefore use of the exceptional natural and urban locations Sicily offers them, true natural theaters for their events. And such beautiful venues enjoy in turn new visibility thanks to the events taking place there. Festivals become thus catalysts of culture, of new resources and of urban regeneration. They become a formidable promotional tool for local areas and contribute to the development of productive energy and new entrepreneurial inspirations. A cultural and economic resource with a strong impact, involving thousands of people in all Sicily, all year round.
The Coordinamento dei Festival del Cinema in Sicilia represents a sort of syndication for the whole world of independent distribution. An organization aiming to create an organic system of marketing and communication, able to attract national and international sponsors, and more importantly, able to make the relationships with public bodies and institutions more simple, considering that they need a clear reference framework of our activities in order to rationalize the different supportive projects directed to the single festivals.