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Vision Films D1 021011_L.indd 1 2/4/11 2:03 PM THR News Market CONTINUED FROM 1 still delivering digital pennies to replace the analogue dollars it displaced. “Speaking of a crisis makes it sound so dramatic but the financial crunch isn’t over yet,” said Jan Mojto of Germany’s EOS. “It used to be you could finance almost any film with backing from European television but that has become much harder. The old financing models are breaking down and there is no new financing model to replace them.” With healthy dealmaking at Sundance melting into the memory, the EFM marks the year’s first major global test bed for the hardedged optimism among buyers and sellers alike. Former Filmax International director Vicente Canales, who exited the Spanish indie giant to set up his own sales banner Film Factory Entertainment, is wary of the prospects for mid-range or undefined projects. “The market is working very well for big films and for special or different films, regardless of the budget,” Canales said. “The mid-range or undefined product is what’s very complicated to sell. Distributors are conservative and if they have any doubts, they’ll wait to see the finished film.” Canales’ debut sales slate in Berlin includes Dick Mass’ Saint and Daniel Sanchez 50 Vampire Arevalo’s Cousinhood. Alexander van Dulmen of Berlin-based A Company is also cautiously optimistic ahead of the EFM, noting that most markets in Eastern Europe where A Company does its business have bounced back. “There are more, and more interesting, projects for pre-sale this year than I’d expected,” van Dulmen said. “And the ones that have cast attached have big names. The only thing really missing is horror. We don’t see any high-end U.S. horror titles like the Saw films, which have done so well for us in the past.” Market optimism is born out in the EFM’s hard data this year. Attendance has jumped some 250 to 6,700 with nearly 100 more buyers in town. “I’ve noticed screenings are getting fuller and fuller,” Canales said. “You can’t say we are back to the years of plenty,” added EFM director Beki Probst, “but you are starting to see a recovery. If companies used to send five people and during the crises they sent one or two, they are sending three this year.” Sales veteran day1_pg1.indd 5 2/9/11 8:55 PM
Fortissimo, which celebrates its 20th anniversary this year, is bound to have a busy EFM, with several buzz-worthy titles, including David Geib’s documentary Jiro Dreams of Sushi unspooling in Berlin’s Culinary Cinema sidebar attracting hungry buyers after a successful outing during November’s American Film Market. Fortissimo also has Iwai Shunji’s Englishlanguage Vampire and will be screening eight minutes of footage from Bob Marley documentary Marley, directed by Oscar-winner Kevin Macdonald. Fortissimo is also coming off the global sales success of Winter’s Bone. But company chairman Michael Werner isn’t quite ready to announce the crisis over. “Despite some successes, there are still far more films that don’t work than films that do work,” he said. For now, however, the optimists seem to have the upper hand. As one U.S. agency chief arriving on the Platz put it: “the whole spectrum is healthy. It won’t last but now is a good time.” BORYS KIT AND PAMELA ROLFE CONTRIBUTED TO THIS REPORT 51 Pearce CONTINUED FROM 1 of the Bondurant boys, bootlegging siblings taking the law into their own hands in Prohibition-era Virginia. Nick Cave wrote the screenplay. Casting details for Pearce and Oldman were not released but the movie calls for an overly violent deputy who comes down hard on the Bondurants as well as a gangster who engages the boys to deliver alcohol. Wasikowska (Alice in Wonderland) plays LeBeouf’s love interest, a local Mennonite girl. FilmNation Entertainment is handling international sales at Berlin’s European Film Market. The movie is currently in pre-production in Georgia and is scheduled to begin filming on Feb. 28. Lucy Fisher and Douglas Wick will be producing alongside Michael Benaroya under his Benaroya Pictures banner and Megan Ellison. Wettest County reteams CAA/ Independent Talent Group-repped Pearce with Hillcoat, for whom he starred in 2005’s The Proposition. Oldman, repped by APA and Douglas Management Group, next appears in Warner Bros’ Red Riding Hood. THR Vision Films D1 021011_R.indd 1 2/4/11 2:01 PM day1_pg1.indd 6 2/9/11 8:55 PM
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