45 young adults from Hungary, Italy and Belgium met in the village of Sant'Anna di Valdieri, in the Italian region of Piedmont, from 28 July to 4 August 2024. They took part in a series of workshops organised by the BE-UNIT project partners, to learn all the skills needed to organise an international video festival and prepare a plea to local, regional and European decision-makers.

An intensive training programme

Over the course of a week packed with activities and content, the BE-UNIT partners ran a variety of workshops:  

• project management
• design of the Manifesto for the future international video festival
• communication
• design of a business plan
• logistics management
• design of advocacy strategies
• debate and facilitation techniques.

Each workshop was conducted in English, and young people from the three countries were mixed so that they could form international working groups. All future activities will continue to be supervised and supported by mentors from the BE-UNIT partner organisations. For inspiration and group cohesion, the participants also enjoyed an open-air cinema evening, a hike to the Valasco Refuge, and a Master class exchange with Italian film director Enrico Verra.

Next step: trainings and organisation of the festival

On the basis of the evaluations and conclusions of this training course in Italy, the young participants will be divided into three main working groups: project management and artistic direction, communication, and advocacy. Between now and the end of 2024, they will follow an online training course specific to the working group to which they belong. Equipped with these tools, the young participants will be able to start organising the festival and designing the advocacy campaign from the beginning of 2025.

The aim of these training activities is to give young people the skills they need to organise an international video festival in July 2025 in Piedmont, Italy, and to draw up an advocacy document for local, regional, national and European decision-makers by December 2025. 

The BE-UNIT project, co-financed by the European Erasmus+ programme, aims to improve the employability of young European adults in the film and video production labour market, as well as their active citizenship.