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The main contribution is the case itself, as a great example of how Drupal can contribute to the digital transformation of an organisation while adopting new user experiences driven by societal changes. The case has been featured by partners such as Platform.sh (blogpost, newsletter) and mainstream media such as Emerce (case study) and was recently recognised as one of two winners at the Dutch Interactive Awards, in the highly competitive category: Digital Transformation.
During the time this project was running, our Technology Director Jeroen van den Berg was sharing practical knowledge with the community while holding a Board member role at the Dutch Drupal Association. Not in the form of code but insightful and inspiring conversations with practical edge cases are a great add-on for the community as well.
With 340,000 admissions and almost 2,700 film professionals attending (346 of whom are filmmakers), IFFR is one of the largest audience and industry-driven film festivals in the world. The festival's Official Selection includes more than 570 feature, mid-length, and short films from almost 90 countries and also offers a high-quality line-up of exhibitions, performances, masterclasses and talks.
In 2020, the International Film Festival of Rotterdam (The Netherlands) celebrated its 50th anniversary, in the midst of the corona pandemic. Despite the many uncertainties, organisers were dead set on having their celebratory, half century edition happen. But this determination did present them with a complicated challenge:
How do you organise an international film festival and show films, if you don't have access to movie theatres and without the physical presence of your audience? How can we make it possible for the audiences to meet the moviemakers and for the movie professionals to network?
As IFFRs digital partner we, iO, set about to create engaging, immersive virtual experiences to rival real-life festival.
About the project
Working together since 2015, their Drupal 7 website was already home to the integrated ticketing system, user accounts and the festival management system for movie info, programming, and the likes. Now, we hypothesised about the next step for IFFR. How could we make sure that their website evolves towards a more future-proof Digital Experience Platform that would propel the foundation and the festival forward?
What if, for example, we could use the gigantic movie database of films and movie information the IFFR has access to, as well as other data sources to offer users more in-depth digital experiences? IFFR immediately recognised the opportunities of this approach and gave us the green light. Together, we decided to digitise the event. This meant moving to a different kind of architecture and a different approach.
The goal of the project was twofold:
- Bring the festival experience online and
- Open a wealth of information from all the backend systems to the world
Solution: enhanced immersive experiences
We created a container to house the film database and a ticket module. Guests could buy their tickets and stream the films from the programme online. To avoid rights conflicts, the website checked, based on IP data, whether the online visitor was in the correct geographical location to watch IFFR movies.
The API served as a middle layer between data sources like the new Drupal 8 content management system, the movie database and the ticketing system on the one hand and a number of touchpoints on the other hand.
One of those touchpoints is the Film Finder app, an app we created to help fans fill in gaps in their schedule. Users can view and rate movie trailers, enabling the app to build recommendations based on ratings and tickets they had already purchased.
An important part of the IFFR experience is the interaction between the audience and filmmakers. Usually film directors take part in a live Q&A with the audience after the screening. So we added chat functions, video meetings and rooms for breakout sessions. This also served the networking needs of film professionals who usually come to Rotterdam to meet and do business.
Results
The 2021 IFFR public festival saw 132,286 online participants: 20.1 percent viewed online premiers, with 79.9 percent watching films on demand; reach beyond the festival’s physical borders increased by 16 percent. With the new digital experience, IFFR Pro Days (supporting filmmakers and guests) welcomed 4,492 participants to online panels and sessions, a 10 percent uplift of the overall number of participating professionals and number of countries represented.
Award-winning
- 2 Splash Awards in the Netherlands (2017 & 2021)
- International Splash Award (2019 during Drupalcon Seattle).
- Silver DIA in 2021 (Digital Transformation category)
- Jori Regter, Tech Lead on the project has won a DIA PRO for his work for IFFR.
- Webby award: Honoree in 2016 and 2018
Why Drupal was chosen
The IFFR project is built on the Digital Experience Platform (DXP) Drupal so we could add new functionalities quickly and flexibly. To work as efficiently as possible, we used the PaaS (Platform as a Service) Platform.sh. simultaneously on different projects for IFFR’s digital ecosystem. We were working on the API and creating new apps, while at the same time rebuilding the IFFR website in Drupal 8. While other technology partners built custom video-on-demand software, we focused on finding and developing ways to enhance the digital festival’s fan experience. All thanks to that multitasking API.
Technical Specifications
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