Turkey was the best represented country at this year's seventh edition of AFMA's regional market which took place in and around Istanbul's Hyatt Regency hotel on 23-26 July.
Although distributors from down-under braved the jet lag for this exotic meeting, next-door neighbours from Greece were conspicious by their absence. Attendants from Bulgaria and Slovenia were the only representatives from the Balkan region, while the European contingent consisted of representatives from Germany and The Netherlands. Korean, Indian, Israeli and Egyptian delegates were pleased to have made the trip, although admitting that business was slow.
According to AFEA chairman Bill Shields, Istanbul was chosen because of such recent developments as the growing demand for US programming in the Mid-East and Africa due to the launch of new television services as well as the rise of cinema attendances in Israel and Lebanon.
Seher Karabol, president of Umut Sanat was upbeat about the event, as her company made some valuable contacts, hoping to see concrete results materialising in the near future. "We've already received some positive feedback, especially from US companies attending. Most of them had already sold their slates before arriving in Istanbul, but they showed interest in our theatrical facilities. A majority of the participants were theatrical distributors. I think this market was also a good business platform for Indians and Far East distributors."
Mehmet Soyarslan of Ozen Film, which operates theatres such as Istanbul's Eurimage, added that the interest shown in local theatre facilities "gave us the opportunity to show what we've been doing in our territory. However, the problem was that there wasn't a real market. For the Middle East, which was supposed to be the core of the event, I thought it was rather disappointing."
For next year's regional market, AFMA is currently studying Brazil as location.
GÖNÜL DÖNMEZ-COLIN
© 1996 - MOVING PICTURES INTERNATIONAL
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