Market of Dreams

We had a great Berlin. We're very satisfied," says Hengameh Panahi of Roissy Films-Celluloid Dreams, one of the few sales outfits to report consistently brisk business at the EFM.

Fabrica of success...

The idea is simple: Fabrica aims to support films which "no other western producer would want to touch". Since its launch in 1998, the Benetton-backed production outfit's first three films, Yesim Ustaoglu's Journey To The Sun, Alexandr Sokurov's Moloch, and Zhang Yuan's Seventeen Years, picked up major awards at, respectively, Berlin, Cannes and Venice.

Cartoon Movie gets new home

The European Film Centre, Babelsberg, an association of European film-makers led by Peter Fleishmann, will be the co-organisers of the second edition of Cartoon Movie, a market specialising in animated feature films from Europe, which takes place 23-25 March at Potsdam-Babelsberg.

Market briefs

Dendy picks up Caravan, Cowboy Booking Intn'l takes Benjamin Smoke, Greek Film Centre is pleased with market....

Stars come out for Becket

At least two of the 19 films in 'The Beckett Film Project' will be ready for Cannes, Channel 4's John Richmond has confirmed. He has also announced further details of the range of talent involved.

Suzhou woos Berlin

As the European Film Market started to thin out a little, one film was emerging as its hottest ticket: Chinese director Lou Ye's Suzhou, touted by Philippe Bober of Berlin's Coproduction Office.

European Cinema Yearbook

The figures are finally in! In 1998 multiplexes with at least eight screens in Belgium (16) accounted for 68% of the country's box office, compared to 49% for multiplexes in Norway, or 31% in France, 38% in Sweden, 9% in the Netherlands, and 5% in Switzerland.

As a special treat for visitors to the British in Berlin stand at the European Film Market, the saxophone quartet Camera Obscur will play Nyman film and other compositions at 18:00, 15 February.

While Leonardo DiCaprio is being feted as the teenybopper sweetheart of the 2000 Berlinale, a film he shot in 1996 is finally on its way to the cinemas, it was announced at the European Film Market.

Saredi nabs Green pic

Christa Saredi can't hide her enthusiasm as she talks about George Washington, the first feature from wunderkind American director David Gordon Green, which screened in the Forum earlier this week.

Market newcomers: Farabi

Farabi is back, representing a number of Iranian films in Panorama and in the Kinderfilmfest such as Majid Majidi's The Colour Of Paradise, which is this year's Iranian foreign Oscar submission.

Screening in the EFM, German director Tom Tykwer's Der Krieger und die Kaiserin (The Princess And The Warrior) has been picked up for international sales by Le Studio Canal+.

To coincide with the Berlin competition screening of Ogata Akira's Boy's Choir, Sento Takenori's Tokyo-based production powerhouse Suncent Cinema Works has announced details of its six-film deal with The Wild Bunch, Le Studio Canal+'s specialised 'boutique' for independent, low-budget pictures.

Open For Business

Opening its doors for business 9 February, the European Film Market at the 2000 Berlinale is the first big market of the year and quite naturally the place where business takes off.