French invade Business Street
No less than 53 French buyers and sellers will arrive in Rome today to take part in The Business Street market, taking place until Sunday at the 2nd RomeFilmFest.
Thirty sales agents from 26 companies will be present, including the most important companies of the sector, from Studio Canal and Celluloid Dreams (where Pierre Menahem is back as Head of Sales), to Wild Bunch, Films Distribution, Pyramide, Rezo, TF1 International, EuropaCorp, Pathé, Gaumont and UGC.
The robust delegation is completed by Memento Films, Les Films du Losange, SND, Roissy Films, Alma Films, Bac Films, Funny Balloons, Onoma, Lol Films, Wide Management, Channel 1 ORT and Umedia.
A total of 23 French buyers will be present on the Via Veneto, on the lookout for good deals. These include MK2, Diaphana, Haut et Court, ID Distribution, Ad Vitam, La Fabrique de Films, Océan Films, Pierre Grise, CTV International, Epicentre, Les Films sans Frontières, Swift and Paramount Pictures France.
Also taking part will be Parc Films (Jean Labadie’s new company), not to mention companies both buying and selling, as well as Canal + and Backup Films.
However, very different expectations colour France’s keen interest in the Roman event. Films Distribution, for instance, has high hopes for the market screening of Ben X [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Nic Balthazar
interview: Peter Bouckaert
film profile], with François Yon pointing out to Cineuropa the excellent organisation of Business Street and its great interest as a market for European films.
Vincent Maraval (Wild Bunch) on the other hand thinks that "Rome is a purely Italian festival. We only sent films there at the request of Italian distributors, aside from The Second Wind [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile], which we first screened at Toronto. What works well in Rome is glamour and since it is a film with a big cast, we accepted to present it at Rome, but only as the opening film, as on the market level there are already too many events for buyers that it would make it worthwhile for visitors to come to Rome. I also regret that Italia Cinema won’t take advantage of it, just before or after, to offer a showcase of Italian cinema."
(Translated from French)
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