EUROPEAN FILM PROMOTION - German Films

Christian Dorsch, Renate Rose, Toronto 2002
The EFP’s first event each year has been the Shooting Stars initiative
which was launched at the Berlinale in 1998 and has since
presented almost 100 European actors and actresses to the international
film community and representatives of the assembled
press.
As Rose recalls, ”this initiative was a French idea from
Unifrance’s Bruno Berthemy and was quite new territory
for us. There was a certain amount of skepticism from some smaller
countries, but then they saw that one could also promote cinema
with actors and not just with the directors.“
The idea of the showcase was to throw the spotlight on ”young
actors and actresses from Europe who have already won the hearts
of the audiences in their home countries but are just at the beginning
of international careers.“ Furthermore, the venture wanted to
emphasize ”the vital role that the talent plays in marketing and promoting
European films at home and abroad.“
Apart from a press conference and evening gala event where the
young thespians are introduced, a workshop is organized with
agents and casting directors from all over Europe to discuss the
actor’s craft. And the EFP draws on the European Film
Academy’s network of contacts to obtain high-profile mentors
(Ben Kingsley, István Szabó and Assumpta Serna) to
serve as patrons for the event.
In a review after the first three editions, Austrian Film
Commission’s Martin Schweighofer described the
Shooting Stars initiative as ”a truly European event“ and declared
the feedback ”phenomenal and so is the impact for many of
the participating actors.“
The Export-Union’s Christian Dorsch, on the other hand,
saw the initiative heightening ”the awareness of the young actors
and actresses for the challenges and rewards of working on an
international level“, while former EFP member Simon Perry
remarked that ”the wider and richer the talent pool of which
European filmmakers are aware and on which they can draw, the
better for cinema as a whole.“
And the Swedish Film Institute’s Staffan Groenberg suggested
that it was ”important to stress that participation in
Shooting Stars is not necessarily the first step to an international
career. The days in Berlin can be just as important in increasing
self-confidence as well as leading to better career possibilities at
home.“
”There is real cross-promotion where the actors selected have
films showing at the festival or in the market“, remarks Export-
Union PR manager Susanne Reinker. ”Best of all is naturally
if the film is in competition, but in any case the actors get an extra
portion of publicity by people being able to see them in a film.“
Certainly, the venture gives countless opportunities for networking
– for the actors to meet international casting directors, producers
and directors, and to make friends with colleagues from other
countries and cultures.
Danish actress Iben Hejle of Mifune will certainly not forget
her Shooting Star appearance as this led to her landing a female
lead in Stephen Frears’ High Fidelity, and young German actor
Antonio Wannek (from Dominik Graf ’s Berlinale 2002 competition
film A Map of the Heart/Der Felsen) came near to
getting a part in an Anglo-American feature after casting directors
saw him in this year’s lineup. Similarly, this year’s selection of Tuva
Novotny gave producer Christoph Friedel of Pandora Filmproduktion
a chance to make personal contact which led to the
actress from Jalla Jalla! and The Invisible being cast for
Matthias Oberg’s latest feature Stratosphere Girl (cf. p. 33).
VISION DAY / TALENT CAMPUS
An innovation at this year’s Berlinale under new director Dieter
Kosslick was the ’Vision Day’ series of panels as preparation
for next year’s ’Talent Campus’ initiative which will bring young
filmmaking talents from all over the world to Berlin to meet and
exchange ideas about the future of cinema.
The EFP’s contribution this year was to help in the staging of a panel
on the European star system with German actors Juergen Vogel
and Moritz Bleibtreu, Italian actress Assumpta Serna,
Austrian actress Nina Proll, director István Szabó, and
casting directors John Hubbard and Shaila Rubin.
AMERICAN FILM MARKET
Berlin has hardly finished and the EFP staff are already jetting over
to the sunnier climes of Santa Monica and the American Film
Market (AFM) to man an umbrella stand for European producers
and sales agents and provide a ’home away from home’ amidst
the hustle and bustle of the market’s wheeling and dealing.
The EFP has been going to the AFM since 1998, and this year saw
24 companies registering and working from the umbrella, including
the UK’s Scala Productions, Spain’s Esicma and the Netherlands’
Egmond Film & Television.
kino 4 focus on european film promotion
2002 6
American Film Market 2002