25/05/2012 - The 2012 Cannes market closed its doors on Thursday with attendance figures up by 8% compared to 2011

The 2012 Cannes market, which closed on Thursday saw traffic rise by 8% compared to 2011. The bad weather that hit the Croisette at mid-market actually benefitted business activities. “We’ve had a lot of traffic throughout the festival and we met even more people because of the rain” said Svensk Filmindustri AB’s head of Rights and International Sales Ann-Kristin Westerberg.

A total of 109 countries were represented, including 13 that had never attended before: Burkina Faso, Congo, Gabon, Madagascar, Rwanda, Curacao, Guatemala, Haiti, Jamaica, Mongolia, Bangladesh, Kosovo and Malta.

According to figures, the strongest increase in participants came from emerging markets such as Latin America (+21%) and Asia (+15%). Chile had a 118% rise, and the increase from Argentina was 42% and 22% for Colombia 22%.

In terms of products, a total of 4,659 films were available at the market, of which 2,753 finished films and 3,028 films introduced for the first time at a market. 941 films had screenings and 741 premiere screenings. The number of screenings was stable at nearly 1,500.

Documentaries continue to have a bigger profile at international markets and this year 626 films were on offer at the market including 472 completed films. 230 titles were available for viewing at the Doc Corner digital video library, a new initiative from the market’s executive director Jérôme Paillard. This novelty was well received, with 1,200 viewings registered.

And for buyers and programmers who still haven’t had time to view all the films they wished, many titles will be available from streaming on Cinando from Sunday May 27, starting with 20 titles from the Selections and 180 titles from the market screenings.