Talents Innovation Forum announces programme for 2026 edition of CineLink Industry Days

Within the CineLink Industry Days Training & Skills programme, Talents Innovation Forum is bringing together emerging talent and established professionals from cinema, animation, and video-game development. The Forum explores growing convergence of these industries and how storytelling, creative skills, and technologies are moving across formats and platforms.

 

This year’s edition focuses on in-game cinematic directing, world-building, IP adaptation, vertical video and microdrama as well as AI-driven workflows. The Forum will also address the changing role of creators in an increasingly platform-driven media landscape from the rise of content creators and new forms of social video to the development of narrative universes that extend across film, games, and other formats. By looking at both the creative and business dimensions of these developments, Talents Innovation Forum aims to provide participants with a clearer understanding of new storytelling ecosystems and the skills, partnerships, and approaches they require.

 

 

 

A film that premiered at Cannes, a YouTube vlog, a video game, an art installation in a museum, it’s all content. With this change in hierarchy comes a different attitude to storytelling and our role as filmmakers; we’ve all become content creators. Let’s view this not as a crisis, but as a paradigm shift full of opportunity. Through numerous examples, from blockbusters to art projects and my own work across media and platforms, we will look at how the skills of screenwriters, directors, set designers, composers, and producers can meaningfully contribute to this new media constellation. On the business side, everyone talks about IP, universes, transmedia, cross-media, and world-building as catch-all terms for stories in the attention economy. Cinema is dead, long live cinema.

 

Igor Simić | Producer, Demagog (RS) 

 

 

 

In the last decade, social video platforms have not only drastically changed the way audiovisual content is distributed and consumed, but have also transformed business models as the surrounding ecosystems have matured significantly. This session spotlights how audience behaviour has changed through the “social viewing contract,” how unique aesthetics and narrative structures have emerged in the wake of algorithmic curation, and which storytelling formats have proliferated. A special focus is placed on microdrama as a sub-format that has grown into a gold rush, with perspectives on commissioning models, platform logic, and the rapidly expanding global ecosystem.

 

Gerhard Maier | Head of Programme/Co-Founder, Seriencamp (DE)

 

 

 

How can an established screen universe be expanded through gameplay and continue beyond the game itself? Ahead of the September release of Clive Barker’s Hellraiser: Revival, narrative designer Ljubomir Kašiković and cinematic lead Enis Čišić offer an inside look at how narrative design and cinematics come together to translate the atmosphere, mythology, and emotional intensity of Hellraiser into an interactive experience. The session also explores the companion novel developed as bonus material and conceived as a continuation of the game’s story. Through this case study, Kašiković and Čišić examine how games can deepen existing IP, open new narrative paths across formats, and build a coherent storyworld for both established fans and new audiences.

 

Ljubomir Kašiković | Narrative Designer, Mad Head Games (RS) 

Enis Čišić | Cinematic Lead, Mad Head Games (BA) 

Moderated by Igor Simić | Producer, Demagog (RS) 

 

 

 

Changes are happening faster than ever, day in, day out. Between rapid technological shifts, moral dilemmas, and economic uncertainty, the world is in a complex position. What does this mean for a creative studio today? Should we plan day by day, quarter by quarter, or stick to a long-term vision? Who is fading away, and who is quietly thriving? Where does AI fit into this equation is it working for us or against us, and are we the ones to judge, reject, or embrace its usage? TAILORS is a mood-driven creative studio for brands, agencies, gaming, and entertainment. Starting as an outsourcing outfit 13 years ago, TAILORS contributed to major campaigns for brands like Estée Lauder, Pantene, Syoss, and Adidas, while building direct partnerships with clients like Miro HQ, Mido Watches, and Wargaming. Having witnessed a decade of industry shifts, the studio transformed itself evolving from Digital Asset Tailors into a rebranded, streamlined TAILORS.

 

Ivan Vasiljević | Chief Executive Tailor, Digital Asset Tailors (RS)