EFP with Film Sales Support for the 3rd time in Mexico

Highest number of FSS-supported films at the Festival Internacional de Cine en Guadalajara (19-27 March 2009)

With 14 supported films at the Festival Internacional de Cine en Guadalajara (19-27 March 2009), European Film Promotion’s promotional tool, Film Sales Support (FFS), is helping more than double the number of European films compared to last year. For the third time in a row, FSS backs a range of films from different European countries with the aim to pave their way into Mexican and Latin American cinemas. More than 50 European films are screening in Guadalajara this time in various sections of the festival, including Focus Norway, Europa Tendencias and Holland for Children.

FSS, which supports sales agents’ promotional campaigns of European films outside of Europe, is an initiative of European Film Promotion’s (EFP) world-wide activities. It is financially backed by the MEDIA Programme of the European Union.

For more information on FSS please click here.

Three of the FSS-supported films are screening in the festival’s Ibero-American Competition, all of which are presented by their directors: Unit 25 (Spain) by Alejo Hoijman, History of a Rock Band (Spain) by Juanma Bajo Ulloa and Our Beloved Month of August (Portugal) by Miguel Gomes.

Amongst European directors travelling to Guadalajara, veteran director, Theo Angelopoulos will present his most recent work, Trilogy: the Dust of Time in a Gala Screening and will also give a lecture to students at the Talent Campus Guadalajara. Moreover, Bent Hamer is in Guadalajara for his film O'Horten (Norway), Gustave Kervern for Louise-Michel (France), Tiago Guedes and Frederico Serra for Noise (Entre os Dedos, Portugal) and Anna Recalde Miranda for The Land of no Evil (France).

The International Film Festival in Guadalajara has meanwhile become Mexico’s most prestigious film festival as well as the world’s most important showcase for Mexican and Ibero-American film novelties. Under the leadership of director Jorge Sánchez, the festival started to include more European films and implemented various Europe-related programmes, such as the Talent Campus Guadalajara which will be launched in collaboration with the Berlinale Talent Campus this year, and a spotlight on the Dutch Hubert Bals Fund, amongst other activities.

Claudia Landsberger, Executive Director of Holland Film and President of European Film Promotion will attend Guadalajara to lecture on this year’s edition of Iberoamerican Films Crossing Borders (17-19 March). Susanne Davis from EFP is visiting the festival for the second time.

“The Guadalajara Film Festival has become one of the most important hubs on the festival calendar when it comes to meeting the Latin American film industry”, Claudia Landsberger comments. ”The festival has created a one-stop-shop with all the facilities for a film and co-production market. Between Berlin and Cannes, the festival is just at the right moment.”

Supported films and companies

Alfama Films Production (Portugal)
Noise (Entre os Dedos) by Tiago Guedes & Frederico Serra
Portugal/Brazil 2008

Astronauta Producciones (Spain)
Unit 25 (Unidad 25) by Alejo Hoijman
Spain/Argentina 2008

Autlook Film Sales (Austria)
Persona non Grata by Fabio Wuytack
Belgium 2008

Bavaria Media (Germany)
Troubled Water (De Usynlige) by Erik Poppe
Norway/Sweden 2008

B&B Film (Italy)
Hair India by Raffaelle Brunetti & Marco Leopardi
Italy/Germany 2008

Engram Film Produkciós (Hungary)
Another Planet (Másik Bolygó) by Ferenc Moldoványi
Hungary/Finland/Belgium 2008

Films Boutique (France)
A Lake (Un Lac) by Philippe Grandrieux
France 2008

Funny Balloons (France)
Louise-Michel by Benoît Delépine & Gustave Kervern
France 2008

Gasteizko Zinema (Spain)
History of a Rock Band (Historia de un Grupo de Rock)
by Juanma Bajo Ulloa, Spain 2008

O Som e a Fúria (Portugal)
Our Beloved Month of August (Aquele Querido Mês de Agosto)
by Miguel Gomes, Portugal/France 2008

Suttvues (Italy)
The Land of no Evil (La Tierra sin Mal) by Anna Recalde Miranda
France/Italy/Paraguay 2008

Wide Management (France)
La Vida Loca by Christian Poveda
France/Spain/Mexico 2009
Three Wise Men (Kolme Viisasta Miestä) by Mika Kaurismäki
Finland 2008
Another Man (Un Autre Homme) by Lionel Baier
Switzerland 2008

Contact:
European Film Promotion
Susanne Davis, FSS Project Manager
E-mail: davis@efp-online.com
Phone: +49 40- 390 6252

EFP is supported by the MEDIA Programme of the European Union and by its member organisations. In addition, promotion and PR activities are backed by the Centre National de la Cinématographie (CNC) as well as private sponsors. The Hamburg-based office is financially supported by the Federal Government Commissioner for Culture and the Media and the Department for Culture, Sports and Media of the City of Hamburg. FSS in particular is backed by the EFP members German Films and ICA - Instituto do Cinema e do Audiovisual, Portugal, as well as by the UK Film Council and the Nordisk Film & TV Fond.