The daunting digital domain challenges facing Europe’s film industry dominated discussion at San Sebastian’s Developing Audience European Film Forum, a vigorous wakeup call for Spain’s industry.

“While Europe film industry produces high-quality films, they do not always reach their potential audiences,” LucÍa Recalde Langaricasaid.

Reaching a great number of users means “fostering access to this content by its potential audiences, using all new waysmade possible by technology,” she added.

The keynote speaker, Catalina Briceño, at the Canada Media Fund, delivered memorable proof of just howfar our world has changed.

90% of the world’s data has been generated in the last two years; media overload is the No. 6 source of stress in the U.S., Briceño observed.

Briceño outlined three creative responses to an audience-centric hyperabundant content world: Participation, Prototyping and Personalization. One case of participation: Australian pubcaster ABC won an Intl. Emmy for comedy series “7 Days Later” whose ensemble cast featured YouTube celebs; its audience also submitted briefs to writers.

But there is a danger of users living in “filter bubbles” where last decade’s dynamic of “pull” content will morph into a “push” scenario, Briceño said, citing Netflix’s personalized pages.

Developing Audiences saw three panels: Creative, Production and Distribution/Programming.

In production, Argentine director Gustavo Taretto talked about the singular online success of his feature “Medianeras” which, selected for Berlin’s 2011 Panorama, turned on the loneliness of big city Internet users. He is now developing a TV and transmedia spin-off.

Some audience-centric film models – crowdfunding, for example, - are now established. Kickstarter’s George Schmalz said it had raised $1.9 billion in pledged film investment.

Targeting specific aud segments, contacting them via Whatsapp, for instance, it’s possible “to get from an Indian movie that nobody knows €10,000-€15,000 ($11,400-$17,100) with no promotion or advertising in Barcelona over just one weekend,” said Alberto Tognazzi, at Screenly.

But, when it comes to content at least, “The bad news is that Internet successes are singular exceptions,” warned Jaume Ripoll, at Spanish SVOD service Filmin. “It would be good to talk about the large ocean of failures inundating the Internet.”

Also, compared to the traditional entertainment industry, Internet entertainment is another ball game. “The Web is alive, connected, not isolated unit contents.” said María Yañez Anllo, a Spanish digital media maker.

Filmin, a predominantly European movie service, faced four challenges: Abundance of offer; lack of knowledge - Europe doesn’t have stars; disinterest; abd user impatience.

Combating these, per Ripoll, Filmin has positioned as a site which shows “what goes on in society,” created visual content guides, and sorted content according to user mood. “To battle disinterest, there’s nothing better than education,” he concluded.

JOHN HOPEWELL / EMILIO MAYORGA