Designed to educate and give up-and-coming producers hands on experience, it has become so well attended that registration reached the maximum 300 participants capacity as early as March.
Launched five years ago, the three-day event which is organized by the Marché du Film, revolves around two daily workshops, allowing participants to become more knowledgeable and confident in a variety of fields, from marketing to the international market place.
The Workshop runs from May 13-15, with two additional sessions on May 17 and 19, 2015.
The Marché runs May 13-24.
For 2015, workshops include the following events:
B2B Marketing Tools & Strategies with EAVE expert Sarah Calderon
Mining Europe for Co-productions with EAVE expert Linda Beath
Branding Yourself and Your Projects with EAVE expert Roshanak Behesht Nedjad
What Kind of a Producer Are You? with Diana Elbaum and Katriel Schory
How to Navigate the International Market and Festival Circuit with Tobias Pausinger and Jacobine Van Der Vloed.
The Producers Workshop event is driven by a list of top speakers. Those taking part this year include the markets and festivals guru, Lucius Barre and all rounder Sydney Levine whose analysis can be read on her blog SydneysBuzz.com.
There are several new additions to the program in 2015. Top billed is the Co-Pro Markets Catch-Up event which seeks to introduce key coproduction markets from around the world to Workshop attendees.
The Co-Pro Markets Catch-Up will involve about twenty co-production markets, and has been organized along the lines of a speed dating event in which markets will speed date with new producers in 30 minute sessions. 2
Participating markets include Cinemart, the Berlin International Film Festival's Berlinale Co-Production Market, Sarajevo's CineLink Co-Production Market, the Frontieres International Co-Production Market in Brussels and the Sofia Meetings amongst others.
"We are always working on ways to expand our program, and at the same time help build the industry. Encouraging new talent is a key way to do that here in Cannes and at the Marché du Film, " said Jerome Paillard, the Executive Director of the Marché du Film. "New partners have been added not only to the Producers Workshop but as well to several of our other programs this year, as we strive to make the Marché even more global and make sure that we are working with other key organizations in order to cultivate the best future talent and business connections”
The Producers Workshop also seeks to help elevate the profiles of participants and draw attention to projects they are working on, through a listing on Cinando, the world's largest industry database which is backed by the Marché.
This year for the first time, the Producers Workshop will include three sessions as part of the aptly named Cinando Focus providing instruction on how to use Cinando.
It will include information on how to get in touch with professionals on the site; how to promote a company and share news; how to highlight films: display a line-up, acquisitions and a film library, and how to allow users to watch trailers and films on the online screening room.
The Cinando app is also designed to allow participants to interact with each other and to research the work of other producers, distributors and sales agents online.
"I learned so much and made many contacts for future international filmmaking collaborations. The Producers Workshop was especially awesome, and the market screenings were great. Nowhere else on the planet could one achieve the level of concentration of highly-skilled, highly-knowledgeable and highly-talented film professionals as at the Marché du Film," opined Bruce B. Gordon of Bruce Gordon Media, who has attended the program previously.
Producer Igor Burloff added that he found business partners and acquired the knowledge he needed to master different sectors, from marketing to distribution. "It was the perfect input to get into the world of Cannes and I am now armed with the knowledge I need to succeed in so many fields," he said.
"Hello Cinema" Director Indu Shrikent said: "The Producers Workshop in 2014 was conducted in such a professional manner that every aspect of producing a film was explained in great detail. It was holistic and every faculty member was very competent in explaining their subject. It was a great learning experience.” 3
The Producers Workshop also includes networking opportunities, such as the opening cocktail and a wrap-up session on May 19th.
The Producers Workshop involves a number of international organizations who help in the selection of graduates for the program.
Also, these partners include Proimagenes Colombia is sending 5 up-and-coming Colombian producers who will benefit from the coaching of an expert to make the upmost of the experience in Cannes, the Filmakademie Baden-Württemberg, which is sending six participants, as well as the organization European Audiovisual Entrepreneurs (EAVE) and the Independent Filmmaker Project in New York.
Other organizations sending producers include New Film Europe, an online trade covering film in Central and Eastern Europe, as well as the Institut Français which has nominated producers via its La Fabrique des Cinemas du Monde program. Eight producers will take part courtesy of Film Market Access, a consultancy for the development of content that helps producers gain experience in selling and marketing films.
Said Julie Bergeron, Head of Industry Programs: "Between the speed- dating sessions with the co-production markets, the daily workshops, the cocktails and our social networking initiative on CINANDO to support the Producers Workshop, we hope this will be a truly stand out year. Demand for workshops like these is visibly growing and there is perhaps no better place to be for newcomers than among the 12,000 market participants gathered on the French Riviera for the Marché in May."
For further information contact: Tiphaine Guérin
The Marché du Film:
Inseparable from the Festival de Cannes, the Marché du Film has become, since its inception in 1959, the largest platform for exchange among film professionals worldwide. Each year, creators, producers, international sellers, distributors and financiers meet to forge partnerships and jumpstart the films of tomorrow. In 2014, the market welcomed 11,800 participants from 116 countries. In total, nearly 5,200 films and projects were presented, with 960 films, 712 of which were premieres, were the subject of 1545 screenings.
A partner for professionals, the Marché du Film stimulates the world of cinema from A to Z by largely favoring exchanges and spotlighting its participants through an array of services, offering meetings, exhibition space and screenings. With its wide range of information tools, it accompanies the activity of its participants throughout the year thanks to Cinando, the largest and most important database of the cinema industry.
20.04.2015 | Cannes Market Dailies's blog
Cat. : PROS