Marrakech: Europa International Debates Key Sales Agent-Fest Relationship
MARRAKECH — Europa International, the European sales agents’ organization founded in 2011 and managed by Daphne Kapfer, organized a two-day event at the Marrakech film festival that brought together 18 sales agents and 4 festival organizers to discuss common standards and best practices.
The work session was moderated by Sten-Kristian Saluveer – Industry Director of Tallinn’s Black Nights Film Festival, in Estonia.
This is the third year running in which Europa International has met at the Marrakech Fest and this year reprised topics that had been addressed in the first session, two years ago and have since been subject to a task force and focus groups.
Festivals are increasingly important as an alternative circuit for films, especially given the mushrooming growth of independent film production, powered by digital technologies.
Many films will only be screened on the big screen in festivals, rather than in the commercial circuit; festivals are also increasingly swamped by the number of submissions.
For these reasons sales agents and festivals are very keen on streamlining their relationship and simplifying logistical issues.
One of the main issues discussed at Marrakech – described by one sales agent as “the elephant in the room” – is how to monetize the screening of films in festivals, in particular via screening fees.
The main focus of the discussion at the workshop was on practical, logistical and workflow questions, including use of a standardized entry form to festivals via Cinando, the film-industry database operated by the Marche du Film of the Cannes Film Festival, that is now used by most European sales agents and festivals.
The representatives sent by sales agents primarily handle relationships with festivals, They included execs from eight leading French sales companies: Hannah Horner, of Doc & Film Int’l, Sanam Madjedi , from Films Distribution, Gaumont’s Ariane Buhl, Ilaria Gomarasca of Pyramide Int’l; Alberto Alvarez Aguilera, at Reel Suspects; Arnaud Belangeon-Bouaziz, repping UDI; Versatile’s Alexandre Moreau; and Matthias Angoulvant, at Wide Management.
Other participants included Alessandra Angelucci, of Fandango Sales, Italy, Valeska Neu, of Films Boutique, Germany, Jindra Span, of Fortissimo Filmes, Netherlands, and Ida Storm, of TrustNordisk, Denmark.
Festheads attending: Karel Och, director of the Karlovy Vary Festival; Marit Kapla, head of programming and VOD at Sweden’s Goteborg Fest; Jacob Neiiendam, director of CPH PIX, Denmark; and Laura Talsma, Intl. PR at the Rotterdam Festival.
On Saturday afternoon – after the workshop – the sales agents will meet Moroccan producers and directors, during a two-hour session in which they will have the chance to see trailers and talk about Moroccan films.
Workshop participants Valeska Neu and Laura Taloma were interviewed by Variety about this new development.
“Marrakech offers interesting advantages for sales agents,” explains Neu. “It’s timing, towards the end of the year, is excellent for us in order to organize events where we can analyze strategies and take stock of current trends. As one of the most important festivals in Africa and the Arab world, it offers something new in terms of the business and films.”
Neu discussed current trends in an independent film business that is increasingly divided between higher-budget films, with well-known talent, and surprise micro-budget films, often from distant parts of the world.
Taloma agreed and emphasized that countries such as Morocco can be sources of new directing talent, citing the example of Jordanian Naji Abu Nowar’s desert-set coming-of-age thriller “Theeb” which won best director in Venice’s Horizons sidebar in 2014.
Both Neu and Taloma were enthusiastic about reinforcing the market dimension of the Marrakech Festival, thereby establishing privileged contact between Europe, Africa and the Arab world.
Although the Arab world is going through a period of political turbulence, it is interesting precisely for this reason – as a source of new stories, Taloma argued.
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