Titel Kino 1/2002 - German Cinema

Antonio Exacoustos
World Sales Portrait ARRI Media Worldsales
The past year has seen three co-productions: Stefan
Ruzowitzky’s comedy All The Queen’s Men, Hanns
Christian Müller’s comedy Germanikus and Robert
Schwentke’s thriller Tattoo. And currently in production is
the third part of Edgar Reitz’s epic family drama, Heimat.
”We don’t want to become some huge store with so many films
that we can’t handle them properly“, says Exacoustos. "Each
film is different and demands its own treatment. That’s the way we
want to stay. I think three productions a year will enable us to
maintain this.“
At the moment, ninety-five percent of the catalogue consists of
German titles. Despite the co-production activities and the
ongoing acquisition of rights, the core offerings will remain mostly
German. Which is not to say there’s any lack of variety.
Kino 1/2002
”We have a broad and varied program“,
says Exacoustos, ”from
Edgar Reitz’s Heimat films,
which are arthouse, through to
straightforward TV-series. We have
everything possible. We don’t specialize
in any particular genre. When
it comes to theatrical features,
because this is the way things are in
Germany, it will certainly be the case
that what lends itself to world-wide
sales is arthouse. That’s my personal
strength because I know the
customers very well.“
Early days yet, but ”the market has
reacted very well to us. There aren’t
so many German world sales
companies, and when you have a
dynamic company which can react
quickly and through its technical services
support the producers, that’s
certainly of interest for producers.“
As regards the internet and new
media, Exacoustos is waiting and
watching. He cites rights issues, legal
confusion and general uncertainty as
the main stumbling blocks. But with
more and more TV channels starting
up, he’s got no reason to worry.
”Every film will find its viewer“, he
says. ”New technology will make
the procedure easier and we might
one day watch films on our mobile
phones but you will still need quality
product.“
ARRI Media Worldsales, and
Antonio Exacoustos, has it.
Simon Kingsley spoke
with Antonio Exacoustos
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