41ST INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL ROTTERDAM #8 THURSDAY 2 FEBRUARY 2012
Getting a boost: one of the 1,800 meetings at this year’s CineMart photo: Bram Belloni
The Numbers Game After four days of intense activity, CineMart delegates will be leaving with a good feeling, CineMart’s Senior Coordinator Jacobine van der Vloed tells Nick Cunningham
Four days, 36 projects and 1,800 meetings later, 780 exhausted (but generally satisfied) pitchers, financiers, distributors, sales agents, co-producers and press last night put on their dancing shoes and partied for the last time at CineMart 2012. As doors finally closed, market chief Jacobine van der Vloed reflects on the past four days. “During the whole event I was continually assessing the common feeling, and the people with projects were generally very happy,” she comments. “Especially the ones who are quite new to the experience, like the artists-turned-filmmakers. For them it was really overwhelming. It was tough for them and they’re tired, but they were happy to have this opportunity to discover how this structure works because some of them haven’t had dealings with the film industry before.” Those sitting on the other side of the table had an extensive menu of works to consider, she maintains, and with budgets ranging from €350,000 to 6 million Euros, all tastes were catered for. Embarkation
CineMart is very often the embarkation point for projects as they set sail into international waters,
and the 78 Rotterdam Lab attendees were on hand to observe a process that many of them hope to replicate in years to come. Two of last year’s Rotterdam Lab alumni joined forces and presented their project The Lunchbox at CineMart 2012 and secured co-pro support from A.S.A.P. Films (France). The team is fairly certain that their film will commence principal photography before year end. Van der Vloed estimates that 70 percent of projects pitched at CineMart go on to be made – eventually. IFFR closer The Hunter (Daniel Nettheim, Australia) was pitched at the CineMart in 2004. In the film business, patience really can be a virtue, she maintains. Power lunches
The annual CineMart power lunches serve two very distinct purposes. One is to get together sector representatives who rarely get the time or opportunity to sit down and thrash matters out. The other benefit is that they enable CineMart staff to shape future editions, based upon the express needs of the industry. This year’s digital distribution power lunch offered film sellers and platform owners a no-holds-barred, off the record opportunity to address the inadequacies and imbalances, but also the benefits, of their current business model. “These professionals are almost never together at the same table,” Van der Vloed points out. “They have their own conferences and their own gettogethers but we said ‘come on, this is how you need to
work in the future because the industry is changing’. So for us it is imperative to know what their needs are and what they are thinking, what are their thoughts about developments over the coming years. I think for them it also really necessary because it was a closed session and they could say whatever they wanted. That’s why we organise these lunches. You need to have a spicy conversation – you can talk about sales and distribution and all that stuff we’ve been talking about for ages, but you need to have a bit of controversy, and you need to seek different solutions. Likewise in the other power lunch with the funding bodies. They are re-inventing themselves too, and that information is very important to us,” she continues. Crossover
Van der Vloed was very pleased with the new Dark Room screening facility – “it was fully booked and is another benefit we offer professionals here” – and with the standard of, and response to this year’s Art:Film and Transmedia panels. “Transmedia is still there, but what was quite surprising was that there were fewer transmedia projects and more art projects,” she comments. “That’s why we thought of organising a panel on the subject of artists turning to the film world. The Jurriaanse Zaal was full and the panellists were very happy to participate, even if many of the audience knew little about the subject. But this was an opportunity for us all to become better informed.”
The panel was co-organised with CPH:DOX and both festivals have indicated a willingness to collaborate on future events. Van der Vloed is also keen to engage the support of a partner within the art world. “In our opinion, it was very successful. You can organise such a thing reciprocally at an art fair. We got the galleries and museum directors to a festival. Now we can in turn deliver the filmmakers to an art fair to continue the discussion. That is the crossover we need. We want to continue this discussion into the future.”
AWARDS! The ARTE France Cinéma and Euroimages Awards were announced at the CineMart Closing Night Party last night. Athina Rachel Tsangari’s Duncharon (Greece, France, Germany) won the ARTE France Cinéma award of €10,000 for Best CineMart Project. The Euroimages Award of €30,000 for the Best CineMart Project with a European Partner went to Nikola Ljuca’s Humidity (Serbia, Germany). The Jury (comprising Arte France’s Claire Launay, Petri Kempinnen from the Finnish Film Foundation and Fortissimo Films’ Winnie Lau) also awarded a Special Mention to Ritesh Batra’s The Lunchbox (India, USA).