DEVELOPING YOUR FILM FESTIVAL 2015The 6th edition of the Independent Cinema Office’s 6-day residential training course, Developing Your Film Festival, for film festival professionals ran from 21 – 26 July 2016 in Motovun, Croatia. The course fostered international networking, collaboration, information sharing and partnerships between film festivals across Europe, sharing best practice and encouraging them to integrate an international dimension into their work. Speakers at the course came from established organisations from across the globe such as Toronto, Vilnius and Tallinn Black Nights Film Festivals, Sheffield Doc/Fest, Cineuropa, Screen International and European Audiovisual Observatory. 27 participants attended the course from 16 different countries. Feedback was overwhelmingly positive with 100% of participants saying they would recommend the course to others. FILM FESTIVAL SYMPOSIUM 2015 – VENICEOn 4 September 2015 the Independent Cinema Office hosted the inaugural Film Festival Symposium at Venice Film Festival. The event was entitled ‘Making the most of your city brand – Film Festivals as a route to Economic and Cultural Capital’. During the session, invited speakers from Sarajevo, Venice and Midnight Sun Film Festivals debated the topic of Sponsorship, both public and private, with an audience of almost 60 delegates, all senior level professionals in film. Following the debate there was a networking session, furthering the opportunity to share knowledge and ideas.