The appeal of European co-productions at the “BLS Film Conference” (I)

05/05/2015 - Incontri #5 analysed concrete funding models and the evolution of production in the digital era

Christiana Wertz, head of the BLS Film Fund & Commission

At the same time as the 29th Bolzano Film Festival and with the BLS Racconti #4 Script Lab getting underway, from 22 to 24 April the fifth edition of Incontri was held in Alto Adige. The “BLS Film Conference” gathered around 80 representatives of the film and television industries of Italy, Austria, Germany and Switzerland at the picturesque setting of the Parkhotel Holzner in Renon, with the aim of encouraging international co-productions and discussing current issues in the sector.

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The opening day of Incontri #5 was dedicated to the topic of co-productions. The producer of Beta Film, Jan Mojto, opened the first panel discussion, "Producing for european audiences"by predicting that in the near future the film market will go European and then go global, with the resulting contraction of local markets. Mojto stated that “protected national havens like France will not stay that way for long” and reiterated how important it is in this day and age “to think and act at a European, global and local level” and that “content is what will win out in the end”.

Alfonso Cometti (Mediaset), Danny Krausz (Dor Film), Stefano Massenzi (Lucky Red) and Wolfgang Müller (Barry Films) gave their thoughts on Jan Mojito’s theory, and all agreed that it is rare and takes a lot of effort to export films that are successful at local level to other countries.

Very important, still in terms of co-productions, was the panel discussion "Side by side: producing history", in which producers Francesco Virga of Mir Cinematografica and Oliver Schündler of Lucky Bird Pictures presented the case studies of two of their current projects: Bianco by Daniele Vicari and Elser (13 Minutes) [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile] by Oliver Hirschbiegel, both funded by the BLS. The panel went into the details of the merits of the funding plan for both projects. The afternoon was rounded off by a conversation between Bernhard Stampfer (International Film Partners) and Nicola Allieta (Under the Milky Way).