On November 28th, in the impressive surrounds of the Kosmos IMAX Cinema, Tallinn, Lord Puttnam delivered the closing keynote address at "Pictured Futures: Connecting content, tech & policy in audiovisual Europe".
The conference, which was part of the 2017 Estonian Presidency of the EU Council, was organised to reflect upon the current (and future) state of the European audiovisual sector. Held within the framework of the Black Nights Film Festival, the two-day event hosted talks and panels on the impact of new business models and big data on culture; how policymakers envision film funding in Europe; and the European Union’s potential with emerging storytelling technologies, such as virtual reality and augmented reality. Conversations among participants touched upon where the audiovisual market is going long-term, and on how new business models based on algorithms and big data analytics are impacting the industry and culture more broadly.
Lord Puttnam closed the conference with an analytical look at the European audiovisual landscape, and offered some predictions for its future and points of relevance. He identified some of the key threats to contemporary democracy and questioned the role of offline media, as well as online media, in both the creation and the resolution of such challenges. He also underlined the importance of restoring trust between the media and its audience, particularly as traditional media space is disrupted by companies like Facebook and Google. Consequently, a key focus of his presentation was on big data, the emergence of ‘data-capitalism’ and social responsibility in the digital world.
The talk was followed by a lively Q&A moderated by Matt Mueller, Editor, Screen International.