12/02/2009

As the European Film Market 2009 draws to a close, director Beki Probst talks to Cineuropa about the changes made at this year’s EFM and the state of the international market.

Cineuropa: What is your provisional assessment of the additions introduced this year?
Beki Probst: The most urgent issue was satisfying demand and finding a second site for the EFM, in addition to the Martin-Gropius-Bau centre. The Marriott Hotel best suited our needs because it’s well located and we’d already established a contact with them through our studio screenings. We thus signed an agreement and the reaction of participants appears to be very positive. We’re going to conduct a survey to find out the opinion of those concerned.

This year’s second new addition was our website. We want to improve it further. The debates were sponsored by Commerzbank, and organised by the trades – Screen International, Hollywood Reporter and Variety – who suggested the themes. The debates were held in the mirrored tent, the Gropius Mirror, which is mainly used as a restaurant for the EFM, and provided a magical atmosphere.

As for the third new addition, Meet the Docs, reactions have so far been positive. We don’t want to compete with anyone, and it isn’t a market for documentaries. It’s a service that costs us money. But we created it in order to assist professionals (distributors, producers, directors) by providing a meeting place for them. This initiative was organised with the help of the European Documentary Network. They came up with the idea of the professional meetings, which were a great success. Once again, we intend to analyse the results of this initiative.

With 20 years of experience as director of the EFM, what do you think about the current state of the international film industry?
The economic crisis is real, we can’t deny it, because as a market we are a barometer of the industry, in a sense. We hope that business will pick up again but everything depends on what sellers have to sell and the prices they ask. Some have had the good sense to say, “OK, we’re in the middle of an economic crisis, we’ll lower our prices”. But there’s an obvious lack of liquid assets at the moment, and this is putting everyone in a difficult position.

I think everyone is waiting to see what happens. We’ve experienced highs and lows in the past, but today we don’t know where we’re headed. Everyone is trying to be optimistic. I say we have to live with it. Perhaps we’ll have to make fewer, better-targeted films. It’s pointless making masses of films that will never be released theatrically. Perhaps the positive side of the crisis is that people will get a reality check. It’s an opportunity to ask ourselves questions and think about how we can do things differently and better.