The recently held EFM suggested that top US "indie" distributors may be shifting still further away from foreign-language films and even more toward homegrown productions for domestic distribution.
With diminishing returns on video and television ancillaries for foreign-language fair, US distributors are begging off the niche foreign films with limited potential to attract a large cross-over audience.
"We are sensitive to fact that is more difficult to click over for foreign-language films", said Marcie Bloom, co-president, Sony Pictures Classics who acquired the Spanish-language hit Belle Epoque at Berlin in 1994. "There's been a tremendous shift since 1992-93 where we were still doing a majority of foreign-language films," Bloom continued.
"It's increasingly difficult to get foreign language films the kind of exposure that makes sense for Miramax," said exec VP, acquisitions, Trea Hoving. "We have to look for the foreign blockbuster."
Newcomer Fox Searchlight hasn't even entered the game. "We have yet to acquire a foreign language film domestically," said VP acquisitions/production Bob Aaronson.
While increasingly selective over smaller foreign-language pics, US distributors are, however, certainly not putting up "no-buy" signs."I'm not giving up completely," said Hoving. "Il Postino is an example: a little film we saw something in that the rest of the US seems to be responding to.“
Julia Hammer
