Have you ever wondered what the world of cinema looks like when you get a closer look at it? Since the time I took my first steps in the world of entertainment by playing acting in my local theater, I knew my future belonged to the world of cinema. When I saw the opportunity of working closely with acclaimed film producers all over the world and festivals such as Canner or Berlinale, I knew I had to step in.
In August 2020, I started my internship at ACE Producers, an association that works closely with film producers from Europe and beyond and offer support, networking and training sessions to its members. Spot the ACE office right behind the beautiful Vondelpark; The office sits in an attic facing the beautiful, empty Amsterdam which still feels unsettling a year later. Unfortunately I only got to see the office for about a month before the new restrictions imposed the shutdown of offices.
Knowing that I would have had to do my internship completely remotely from one day to the other was an unexpected turn of events for me. My first thought was: “After all it took to get here, I will be alone all the way through. Thankfully, this experience turned out different, yes, but as delightful as expected.
Since day one, I was really surprised to see that the company was run but a small team of five (amazing) women. Because of the small-sized team, it was clear what was expected from each of us. Despite this, we would often help each other out in our daily tasks to have a better understanding of how to work together as a team. ACE Producers has been hiring interns since few years now; However, as many other companies, this was their first experience having an intern working remotely. Because of this, you could see how both parties (me as an intern and my supervisor) were really clumsy in adapting to this ‘new normal’.
One of the main challenges for the team was to move all their events to an online setting. In October 2020, Content Development Workshop for 18 producers was planned to take place in Belgrade, Serbia. Unfortunately, the event had to be moved online, which caused us to often work extra hours in order to ensure participants to feel comfortable in the new setting. During the workshop week. the Team gave me the best project I could ask for: organize a (surprise!) Pizza Night for all producers around the globe. For as fun as it can sound, I remember feeling quite stressed about it, because I simply didn’t want to screw up! The Pizza Project turned out successful and we spent a jolly evening together, which made us feel we were sitting at the same table, far away from the world we know today and once again, closer to each other.
