Berlinale business
February 16, 2012
"Nobody here openly talks about money," says Beki Probst who has been heading the European Film Market (EMF) since 1988. But she admits things are going very well for the movie business. Over the years the EMF trade fair, which runs parallel to the glitz and glamour of the Berlinale, has developed into one of the largest movie business events in the world.
Robust movie market
Around 7,000 participants from about 90 countries have registered this year to talk business at the sidelines of the festival. Some 750 movies are on the market, with buyers bustling in and out of the EMF venue in Berlin's Martin Gropius exhibition hall.
The movie business is doing well despite the financial crisis. People need the cinema, says Beki Probst. And the selection is huge. There are genre movies, horror flicks, science fiction, fantasy, thrillers, comedies, arthouse movies and even documentaries.
There's nothing you can't find - films are being sold from Hollywood to Singapore or from Hong Kong to Rio. As long as the story has a universal appeal, there's no stopping the buyers. Sure, there are some cultural differences - horror movies won't make it to China, too much bare skin will have a hard time in Iran.
Kick-starting new projects
The Berlinale seems to provide a near perfect setting for the international trade fair. The festival provides a first hand take on what attracts cinema goers and what doesn't. And as the festival brings together all the movers and shakers from the industry, it's also a perfect place to kick-start new ideas.
With a good concept and a bit of luck you can find a producer, develop ideas and bring together the right people. It's all about making new contacts and keeping track of old ones. Emerging markets in Asia and Latin America are becoming ever more important. In Berlin, they present their new movies, testing the waters of the international audiences. All the better if one of their movies is actually shown at the festival itself.
German movies
Traditionally, German films are well represented at the Berlinale. The Oscar nomination for Wim Wender's 3-D film "Pina" has also drawn international attention. And that's something which will reflect on other German productions, says Mariette Rissenbeek, managing director at the company German Films. And, she says, there's plenty on offer from Germany that potentially could do well in other countries as well. Not only high quality movies, but also very diverse productions. Increasingly, also big international productions are being shot in Germany, be it in studios in Munich or at the legendary Potsdam Babelsberg studios.
On the domestic market, German films made up 21 percent of last year's turnover. Internationally, the response to German films is different from country to country, Rissenbeek explains. France is more into intellectual films, while such productions usually have a hard time in most other countries. She hopes that more future projects will have a universal appeal - a story that will work on any market around the globe.
Future audiences?
Anne Laurent of the Austrian Film Commission however hopes for a changing audience. She's concerned that in most countries, young people regard cinema purely as entertainment and have never learned to take in more challenging films.
To stem the tide, Denmark for instance not only channels 25 percent of it's movie funding into children's movies, but even has school classes where kids learn how to watch, analyze and discuss movies.
Author: Silke Bartlick / ai
Editor: Neil King