The Film Verdict had the opportunity to speak to newly elected European Film Promotion Board member, Christian De Schutter, a veteran of the film industry and of Toronto.
For the last two decades Christian has been with Flanders Image and he remains optimistic, dynamic and innovative as ever. Flanders Image was the first agency in Europe to embrace digital technology with an array of products and features. As a newly tapped Board Member of EFP, TFV wanted to get his insight into EFP at Toronto.
THE FILM VERDICT: Christian, first and foremost congratulations on your new role as a newly elected European Film Promotion board member, which means, as managing director of Flanders Image as well, you will be wearing two hats. How do you reconcile those two roles? Are they ever in conflict?
CHRISTIAN De SHUTTER: In all honesty, I don’t see that much of a conflict between what we do at Flanders Image and what EFP does; on the contrary, I mainly see the same objectives, similar ambitions or goals. And one of these ambitions is to help our films and our filmmakers be as visible as possible in the international marketplace. I genuinely believe that all of us together, EFP and all its members, can be a force to be reckoned with.
TFV: Rastislav Steranka, director of the National Cinematographic Centre of the Slovak Film Institute, has also been elected to the EFP Board. Have the two of you discussed how you both wish to influence EFP?
CDS: I believe I also speak for Rastislav when I say that we did not join the EFP Board to influence the organization. I joined the Board to serve EFP and its members. We live in very challenging times, and it is important to find answers to, or take positions on, the challenges we face. I want to actively contribute to the solutions, be a part of them, rather than resign myself to the problems. My biggest shortcoming, and that has always been the case, is that I am an optimist, so I am confident that there is a future for both European talent and the ‘content’ that is made here!
TFV: As a board member of EFP, what will you be focused on? You have led Flanders to embrace digital technology, run its own promotional VOD platform at screener.be and created many successful events, such as CONNEXT – we can’t imagine that you will be a passive board member? Will you bring any of those innovative and digital ideas over to EFP?
CDS: EFP is blessed with a very active and strong team in Hamburg. They are, and they always will remain, in the driver’s seat. You should see the board much more as a sounding board within the organization, representing all members. And as a board member, I am more than happy to share my experience about such initiatives as CONNEXT or how we deal with the Oscars with other members, but I am also keen to learn from other members, how they operate, what they do and how they do it. This exchange of information between members is one of the real strengths of EFP.
TFV: You will be attending Toronto, not for the first time, on behalf of EFP. What is your mission at TIFF for EFP? And what is EFP doing during Toronto to promote European films?
CDS: EFP again runs its Europe! umbrella booth at the TIFF Industry Office, the place to meet up with the Europeans in Toronto. Besides 10 agencies, a growing number of sales agents will also operate from this booth. They include Beta Cinema (Germany), Films Boutique (Germany), Global Screen (Germany), LevelK (Denmark), Media Luna New Films (Germany), Picture Tree International (Germany), The Yellow Affair (Finland) and TrustNordisk (Denmark). For me personally, it will be my very first TIFF since Covid. So my mission will be to see and experience how much TIFF has changed and how we can adapt to this new reality. I will be there to talk with a lot of people and find out what their take is on the changing festival landscape and marketplace. And there is of course also our film, Here by Bas Devos which premiered in Berlin where it won the Encounters main prize, and in the meantime has become one of this year’s festival favorites. It has its North American premiere in Toronto, before it goes to New York, Busan…
TFV: Both with Flanders Image and EFP it is perhaps difficult to quantify “success” – how will you quantify a “successful Toronto” for EFP?
CDS: Success is something that you can’t always measure or quantify instantly. A festival can be successful if it turned out to be the ideal launching pad for your films, with sales and/or festival invites – not to forget media attention and visibility. But it could also be that it is successful in terms of meetings and maybe leads to things to happen in the not so near future.
TFV: How do today’s European film companies differ from film companies of ten to twenty years ago, and how are they addressing the marketplace when they attend a festival like TIFF?
CDS: It’s a tough market for quite a lot of players, and not just for the Europeans. There’s been Covid and the slow recovery from it, the sudden reality check for streamers forced upon them by Wall Street, the end of peak TV as we were used to… and I could probably still go on for a while. The result is that everyone, from festival curators to sales agents and distributors, to streamers, have become far more cautious, more conservative in their programming. For instance, the so called more controversial films that festivals would have been fighting for 10 or 15 years ago today hardly manage to secure a festival invite, let alone sales or distribution. This is a warning sign we can’t ignore. Besides being shown, it’s also of the utmost importance that they are reviewed, that they get coverage. I do hope this “hesitancy” to present more controversial subjects out of fear of audience reaction will turn out to be something temporary. Having said that, there are still plenty of examples of real auteur-driven movies that still manage to reach and move audiences around the globe. Take for instance Close by Lukas Dhont or The Eight Mountains by Felix van Groeningen and Charlotte Vandermeersch. I also just came from Venice where Fien Troch’s latest, Holly, premiered in official competition, resulting in several festival invites and, hopefully, sales.
TFV: Outside the European films, what films are you most looking forward to seeing at TIFF? And lastly, what’s your most recommended restaurant in Toronto?
CDS: You know what? The last time I was there was in 2019… That’s four years. And each time you go to Toronto, entire neighborhoods have disappeared because of the construction of new tower blocks. So, I expect to discover lots of new restaurants, and I hope to be surprised by some of them. Having said that, it’s usually the people I am with that make the real difference. And when I really get homesick you can find me at Lekker, the Belgian Sweet Corner on Augusta Avenue (Kensington Market).
