EFP supports marketing of 39 European films in Asia

An increasing number of European sales companies will attend the 19th FILMART in Hong Kong which runs from March 23 - 26. With the support of European Film Promotion’s (EFP) Film Sales Support (FSS) scheme, 37 sales companies are heading to the FILMART to market 39 films from 16 different countries. Requests for FSS were at an all time high this year – applications for 54 films were received – but due to budget limitations, EFP was only able to support 39 as well as cap the maximum amount to €3,000 per film. The FSS line-up includes three Berlinale award winners:
Body by Malgorzata Szumowska (Silver Bear), the feature documentary, The Pearl Button by Patricio Guzmán (Silver Bear for best Scipt) and My Skinny Sister by Sanna Lenken (Crystal Bear RYSTAL for the Best Film).

With the financial help of the Creative Europe - MEDIA Programme of the European Union and some EFP member organisations, European Film Promotion (EFP) has earmarked FSS funds in the value of almost €100,000 dedicated to the individual sales campaigns.

Responding to the high demand from Europe’s sales companies, EFP was able to enlarge the European Pavilion in order to offer more working space. 19 sales agents and two EFP member organisations registered with EFP, an overall high. Over a 4-day period, sales agents from Belgium, Denmark, France, Germany, Italy, Spain, Sweden/Finland and the UK will be conducting intensive business meetings at the Pavilion, presenting their line-ups pre-Cannes and following up on Berlin. In the vicinity, UniFrance films complements Europe’s visibility with its national stand representing French companies and films.

"I have attended FILMART for eight years in a row now and it surely has become a very important market for us during the year”, Nicolai Korsgaard, Sales Manager at TrustNordisk from Denmark points out. ”At FILMART I have the chance to meet up with a lot of Asian clients and also to follow up with those that I met with at the EFM. We have some big genre titles coming up, and these work really well for us in Asian territories.”

Antonio Oliete, Sales and Marketing Executive at Film Factory Entertainment in Spain, stresses: ”FILMART is attractive to us because it is a very good opportunity to catch up with buyers that do not attend the EFM. It is also convenient for us to follow up on meetings of those who do go to Berlin.”

EFP has successfully been running the Pavilion since 2011, catering for the demand of those companies which come back regularly but also for newcomers. This year, EFP welcomes six new companies at the stand.

Like FSS, the European Pavilion is also financially backed by the Creative Europe - MEDIA Programme of the European Union, by EFP’s member organisation, German Films, the Danish Film Institute and Istituto Luce Cinecittà as well as by the participating sales agents.

Registered sales companies and EFP member organisations at the European Pavilion:

Belgium: Be For Films, Denmark: LevelK ApS, TrustNordisk, France: Stray Dogs, Germany: Beta Cinema, Films Boutique, German Films, Global Screen, m-appeal world sales, media luna new films, Mira Media S.L., Picture Tree International, The Match Factory, Italy: Fandango, Intramovies, Rai Com, Norway: Norwegian Film Institute, Spain: Film Factory Entertainment, Video Mercury Films SA, Sweden/ Finland: The Yellow Affair, United Kingdom: uMedia.

FSS funding was confirmed by EFP’s member organisations British Council, Danish Film Institute, EYE International (The Netherlands), Finnish Film Foundation, Flanders Image, German Films, Instituto de la Cinematografa y de las Artes Audiovisuales / ICAA (Spain), Icelandic Film Centre, the Irish Film Board, Magyar Filmunió/ International Division of the Hungarian National Film Fund, Istituto Luce Cinecittà (Italy), Norwegian Film Institute, the Polish Film Institute, Swedish Film Institute, Swiss Films, UniFrance films, Wallonie Bruxelles Images.