INTERNATIONAL

EUROPEAN UPDATE
ANDREAS FUCHS
FJI EXHIBITION/
BUSINESS EDITOR
BFI SUPPORTS
BAFTA NOMINEES
This year’s contenders for
the BAFTA Film Awards include
heavy hitters with a heavy load of
nominations. Leading the charge are
Steven Spielberg and Todd Haynes
with nine nominations each for
Bridge of Spies and Carol, followed
by Alejandro G. Iñárritu and The
Revenant with eight. Rounding out
the Best Films of the year, as seen
by the British Academy of Film and
Television Arts, are The Big Short
and Spotlight. Not much tea time in
any of them.
That may account for six fi lms
vying for Best Outstanding British
Film (without Spectre) and the
Minions’ trippy trip to swinging
London entering the animated
race. Ben Roberts, director of the
BFI Film Fund, which supported
six of the fi lms that garnered a
total 11 nominations, including 45
Years and Brooklyn, was pleased
“to see a number of excellent
British fi lms and fi lmmakers across
the Outstanding British and
Outstanding Debut categories.”
BFI Lottery investment supports
the U.K.’s independent sector,
he explained, “where so many of
our brightest stars are born, and
where talented teams work with
extraordinary tenacity and skill to
bring their stories to the screen.”
BERLINALE WATCHES
SHOOTING STARS
The jury of industry experts
as appointed by European Film
Promotion (EFP) selected ten
“gifted young actors” to become
the 2016 European Shooting Stars
(www.shooting-stars.eu/en). In the
19th year of the Creative Europe-
MEDIA supported Programme,
they hail from Belgium, Croatia,
France, Germany, Greece, Iceland,
Italy, Spain, Switzerland and The
Netherlands. Among the past recipients
of this recognition is Alicia
Vikander (Sweden), double BAFTA
nominee in leading and supporting
acting categories for The Danish
Girl and Ex Machina. This year, she
also co-starred in Burnt with fellow
former Shooting Star Daniel Brühl
(Germany). Alexander Fehling
(Germany, 2011) and Sven Schelker
(Switzerland, 2015) were just cast
for the fi fth season of TV drama
“Homeland.”
“We are proud to present
these emerging artists on a world
stage at the Berlinale,” said jury
member Anamaria Marinca. The
Romanian Shooting Star of 2008
described the diffi culty in selecting
the participants from a pool of 24
submitted by EFP member organizations.
“We watched fi lms from all
over Europe, brimming with fresh
young voices. Our fi nal selection of
ten actors refl ects the diversity and
vitality of European cinema.”
EURO FILM MARKET BOOKED
Also in Berlin, Germany, the
“fi rst fi lm market of the year” is
solidly sold out. The European
Film Market expects more than
8,000 producers, exhibitors, world
sales agents, buyers and fi nanciers
Feb. 11-19 (www.efm-berlinale.
de). No fewer than 38 “stateof-the-art
cinemas are at the
service” of market participants,
organizers noted. (Check them
out at www.efm-berlinale.de/en/
screenings/screening-facilities.)
EFMCinemobile is a new addition
that seats 80 and offers digital
3D, just outside the iconic market
center of Martin-Gropius-Bau.
The joint ASEAN (Association
of Southeast Asian Nations)
booth marks another premiere. On
Feb. 17, EFM’s ongoing partnership
with the “Bridging the Dragon”
network presents its very fi rst
Sino-European Seminar. Thirty-fi ve
European producers will spend the
entire day with Chinese experts
“in order to gain a deeper insight”
into the People’s Republic as part
of EFM Asia. “Our new initiatives
are an appropriate reaction to the
development of and great changes
in the international fi lm and media
landscape,” noted EFM director
Matthijs Wouter Knol.
YMAGIS GROUP GROWING
Ymagis Group has a new
deputy chief executive offi cer.
Georges Garic joined the European
“specialist in digital technologies
for the cinema industry” after
three years at Asteelfl ash with
6,000 employees and US$900
million in revenue. His positions
at this international electronic
manufacturing services company
included oversight of the United
States and China (2008) and
Europe, Middle East and Africa
(2012). Commenting on this
strong international background,
Jean Mizrahi, Ymagis Group
president and CEO, expects “this
seasoned professional” who has
worked in “highly competitive
industrial sectors” to “accelerate
the synergies among our group’s
businesses and prepare it for the
next steps in our development.”
One such step is a recent
agreement with Smartjog. Executed
in line with Mizrahi’s “strategy to
become the undisputed leader
in digital content delivery across
Europe,” Ymagis acquired their
remaining stake in Smartjog Ymagis
Logistics. SYL was founded only
two years ago to offer the cinema
industry “integrated solutions” to
meet delivery needs for theatrical
releases, second-run and classic
fi lms, trailers and cinema ads.
Taking full operational control
will allow Ymagis to integrate related
activities in two other subsidiaries
(dcinex SA and Eclair Media SAS) “in
a more effi cient manner,” the Group
envisions—as well as leading to
“joint business initiatives” across the
delivery services at DSAT Cinema,
as part of their global agreement
announced in June.
As of that same date, 7,172
screens in Europe were under
exhibitor-services contracts with
Ymagis, and 6,401 screens were installed
under VPF contracts. While
a network of 3,300 connected
cinemas may pale by comparison
to the number anticipated as part
of the Digital Cinema Distribution
Coalition (featured on page 30 of
this issue), Ymagis Group is the
only company capable of delivering
content digitally via satellite, DSL
and/or fi ber.
ALLIANCE FRANÇAISE
SERVES UP CLASSICS
All that (admittedly important)
talk about digital delivery
made this columnist hungry for
some old-fashioned cinéma. At the
French Institute-Alliance Française
(FIAF) in Manhattan, the monthly
CinéSalon not only serves wine
and cheese after its screenings but
also the most delicious of auteurinspired
dishes.
As part of its February series
honoring the “incredible technological
innovations and evolving
fi lmmaking practices of the past halfcentury”
in cinematographer Pierre
Lhomme’s fi lms, FIAF selected representative
titles, from The Army of
Shadows (Jean-Pierre Melville, 1969)
to Maurice (1987, with director
James Ivory attending a Q&A after
the screening). While the majority
of the fi lms are being presented in
pristine restorations, The Mother and
the Whore (1973), considered one
of the greatest French fi lms of the
post-War era, is showing in a rare
35mm screening. Series curators
attribute the fi lm’s success “to the
trust and artistic complicity that
developed between Pierre Lhomme
and director Jean Eustache over the
course of a manic four-week shoot.”
For more information, go to www.
fi af.org/events/winter2016.
FEBRUARY 2016
WWW.FILMJOURNAL.COM 57