by Liza Foreman
For our daily column Market Voices, The Film Verdict will be checking in with the peeps peopleing the shop floor at this week’s European Film Market in Berlin, to give readers a feel for the first major film market of the year. Stay tuned.
Pedro Peira, Filmmaker, Producer, Sales Agent
“Selling niche films is not an easy task, especially at the European Film Market, where competition is fierce”, said Pedro Peira. “This time we focused on our last feature, Buddha Jumps over the Wall which we shot in Spain and Taiwan”. The film follow two chefs.
Being the director and producer makes things a little strange, but once you’ve been a sales person, you’re always a sales person. I started in this industry as a Sales Manager for an extinct company called BocaBoca Producciones but things developed in a creative direction, but you can’t forget your past.
We’ve had some interest from some platforms and, of course, from some festivals. Yes. Culinary is always a big thing for festivals. We’re trying to offer an additional experience which involves food and wine tasting during the film and some festivals are becoming aware of it.
We haven’t closed any deals so far but we keep on having interest on our previous film, LA Queenciañera, which after more than two years of its world premiere at Outfest, keeps grabbing interest from LGBTQ+ festivals around the glove.”
Christiane Krone-Raab, Berlin Brandenburg Film Commissioner
“I can look back at many years of exhibiting at EFM with German Films and Focus Germany. Thinking about today’s talks at this EFM, about two thirds were requests from international filmmakers, mainly producers and directors. It’s changed. It was indeed amazing and a pleasure to listen to many exciting creative ideas and film concepts of producers and filmmakers approaching us and looking for co production partners or funding schemes. I noticed the patience and gratefulness of the people I talked to and was trying to give them the best support and to suggest how to proceed. It is sometimes hard to connect them with potential partners right away. We aim to understand the needs and open up new kinds of perspectives, and are also doing this to be a reliable partner, knowing that you always meet twice, hopefully next year at EFM.”
Jim Jermanok, Filmmaker
“I am a former ICM agent turned filmmaker from New York. I am currently selling an eight-episode Drama TV series, Incompleteness, which I executive produced, and a documentary about Oscar-winning actor Martin Landau, which I directed. I am also seeking co-producers for several future film and TV projects. The business is always changing and is currently contracting, but there is always a need for high quality and distinctive product. As an independent writer-director-producer, it is never easy but I remain optimistic after having 40 meetings in Berlin with producers, investors, distributors and agents, including many friends who I haven’t seen since Covid began. What’s interesting in Berlin this year is that people are very clear about what they want. And about what they can do. There is an appetite for product to fill slates for late 2024/2025. For sure the indie business remains a challenge for independents and especially documentary. But I’ve met here with new investors interested in the film industry that have come to check out the market. In this industry there is always fresh blood. I particularly enjoyed seeing my close friend Stephen Fry who gave a superb performance in his latest film, Treasure. The Berlinale is proving to be a worthwhile experience but obtaining financing and distribution requires extreme persistence as always.”
Charles Lyons, director,’ The Quiet Diplomat’
“I toured the European Film Market over the weekend, shopping for interested parties for international TV rights to my documentary, The Quiet Diplomat, about former Secretary General Ban Ki-moon. The film premiered Sunday at a parallel event produced by Cinema for Peace in Berlin. Some 20 years ago, I was a reporter for Variety, snooping markets for scoops. Now I am trying to sell my own film. Much has changed. Many of the booths I and my filmmaking team visited at the hoping Marriott and Gropius Bau were either interested in selling territorial rights to films made in their own countries, or buying and selling fiction films featuring B-list actors. Where does a historical documentary about the former leader of the UN fit into this scene? I haven’t closed any deals, but some high-ranking diplomats, certainly not circulating the market, who saw the film when it premiered at the Allianz Forum, expressed interest in either hosting screenings of the film or seeing it distributed in schools. The game is not over, but the possibilities of streaming – self or otherwise – have changed the landscape so much that a life for a documentary such as mine may well be outside a traditional television sale.” (www.thequietdiplomatfilm.com)
Nici Brückner Producer, Director World Color Studio 22
“World Color Studio 22, is at this year’s EFM with special projects In Transkei, a feature film by Derya Durmaz and Lost Gods of Memphis created by Jon Carlos Evans. We are meeting and negotiating with co-producers and distributors from Finland, Armenia, Germany and South Africa. One of the new exciting events this year at EFM was Afro Berlin on Saturday. I participated on a panel spotlighting producers. It is fantastic to have such an international, high caliber of the African and diaspora film industry under one roof and put under the spotlight at the market. Afro Berlin was created by Prudence Kolong’s Stockholm-based consulting firm Yanibes, which also runs Afro Cannes at the Film Festival in Cannes.”
Olivier Albou, Other Angle Pictures
“The last time I was physically in Berlin was in 2020 right when we were getting into Covid’s first wave. I didn’t realize at the time how it would disrupt the film business and our lives in general. Luckily, by then, I had licensed and produced two Netflix originals which turned out to be huge hits on the platform during the pandemic. The rest of my films had some opportunities to perform between waves of the virus. Now the market seems to have recovered some sanity. And even more so now that some films are going straight to streamers, while others need theatrical to exist, and some can have the best of both worlds. This is the case for our new production The Gardener with Jean-Claude Van Damme, which Amazon bought for a number of countries, and will have a theatrical release in others. In Berlin, I can feel a real market dynamic for the right films for the right clients, like independent distributors, streamers, and TV. Our specialty for 15 years has been feel good movies, and we are finding them a home this year in Berlin again.”
Johannes Busse – Head of Sales at Sola Media
“We had a really strong start to our market this year. We received first good offers already before or while we were traveling to Berlin. Also our first meetings here have been really productive. I am especially impressed by the strong development of the Eastern European Market which shows strong demand for our Family Content and we are very happy with buyers’ interest in our new announcements The Super Elfkins and The Lost Tiger. The market is just starting and the coming days are still full of good meetings. But I can already tell this will be a good EFM for us this year.”
Kirk D Amico, Myriad Pictures:
“The first days of the EFM at the MGB seem very energetic and busy. While many of the buyers have indicated that they already have films for the first half of 24 they are looking to fill their schedules for the second half of this year and beyond. There seems to be a focus on films that have strong commercial appeal and that could work theatrically and for transactional windows. Of course films which have a festival buzz are also generating strong and immediate interest. We are seeing offers from competitive territories and also requests to review films via links for distribution and marketing teams at home. We are very encouraged by the initial days at the market”
