The 12th CineMart takes off today with the presentation of 42 film projects to 450 attendants at the Hilton Hotel. "A programme of great variety, both in budget and background," said CineMart director Wouter Barendrecht. Jrn Rossing Jensen reports
As 450 CineMart participants started arrive at the 26th International Film Festival Rotterdam with a full schedule for the next five days at the tables in the Jardin Room of the Hilton Hotel, where they will be introduced to 42 film projects at different stages, CineMart director Wouter Barendrecht also commented on the 250 new productions which were rejected.
"It is amazing how many Europuddings are still cooking - local films of such a character that it is incomprehensible why they need foreign participation, if not only to keep certain producers alive," he said. "On the other hand there is no limit to the number of extremely American films, set in New York or Los Angeles, which seem to require European finance."
"Neither category is represented in the catalogue, which - as usual - reflects the variety of filmmaking, both in budget and background. We have films to shoot on budgets between US$300,000-3,5 million, coming from most corners of the world - Tadjikistan, Iran, South Korea, the US, and the Netherlands. In fact a global dive into future cinema," he added.
That future eventually becomes present is reflected in the festival's main selection, with five features previously touted as works-in-progress - Mary Harron's I Shot Andy Warhol and Steve Buscemi's Trees Lounge, US productions both screened officially at Cannes, Ingrid Sinclair's Flame (Zimbabwe), Clara Law's Floating Life (Australia) and Aurelio Grimaldi's Nerolio (Italy).
Fully unspooling at the Hilton Hotel, the CineMart programme also includes a presentation by the Maurits Binger Film Institute, a CineMart Broadcasters Round Table and today's (2 February) seminar 'No Motion without Promotion' about distribution and marketing, with in-depth case studies of the releases of Jan Sverak Kolya (Czech Republic) and Scott Hicks' Shine (Australia).
Last year 27 commisioning editors, producers, public funders and supporters of independent films signed a letter of intent, agreeing to finance local projects at a minimum of 50%, taking them to the CineMart with the producer to cover the rest through television pre-acquisitions. They would also schedule slots and increase their budgets for film procurements through the new network.
The 1996 session was convened by head of the British Film Institute Production Board, Ben Gibson, and it will reajourn to further discuss the funding of low-budget productions on Tuesday (4 February) with a couple of new participants, including Belgium's RTBF, Switzerland's DRS, NPS and EO of The Netherlands, and Filmboard Berlin- Brandenburg. *
[Home ] [Content ] [The Sponsors ] [The Team ] [Comments ] [Help ]
