Cinemart Closing Night Party: Into the Fog

After days spent at one-on-one meetings (the Cinemart's famed matchmaker approach), participants were ready to let off some steam. They found the perfect place for this, an enormous café on the wharf that had been renovated from an actual pier. A live dj was spinning disks but also putting on a show (in Europe, the club disk jockeys are stars in their own right). The music ranged from techno to Elvis Presley, and beers, wines and that most Dutch of sins, -- ginever -- the Dutch gin, was generously served. The revelry continued into the wee hours.

US Indies Come to Europe

Rotterdam has long been a supporter of the American Independent Cinema movement. In the Festival's early years, it championed such filmmakers as Sayles, Jarmusch, Seidelman and the Coen Brothers. Between shorts, documentaries and features, there are more than 50 American films screening here. In the past years, the Cinemart has proved especially effective for US producers who are looking for some European or Asian coin for their projects. The fact that the films are American, and shot in English, have obvious international appeal.

But the Americans producers who come to Rotterdam are true independents … they are uncomprimising about how their artistic and economic freedom. At the same time, they revere the auteur cinema of Europe and the public and governmental support that filmmakers receive here. They come as students, not necessarily as teachers.

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Asian Projects in the Spotlight

The Rotterdam Film Festival is world-reknowned for its focus on emerging trends in Asian cinema. Of all the films screening in Rotterdam, nearly 60% are from Asia. The Cinemart compliments this program by including a number of interesting Asian projects in its program. Delegations are here from Korea, Japan, Taiwan, Hong Kong, China, Thailand, The Phillipines and the Middle East to hopefully secure North American and European co-financing for their projects.

Carrie Wong of Golden Networks Asia and Doris Yang of Nicetop Independent are in town from Hong Kong to drum interest for the latest film of director Fruit Chan. Chan's first film The Longest Summer was screened at last year's Rotterdam festival. This year, he has an amazing two films in the Festival: Little Cheung and Durian Durian.

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A Market With a Difference

"We are a kind of matchmaker," explained Ido Abram, the Cinemart Coordinator. "We bring together producers from North America, Europe, Asia, Latin America and Africa and introduce them to potential funders and distributors from around the world." However, unlike its counterparts in Berlin or Cannes, Cinemart does not present completed films looking to be sold worldwide. Much like many things at this Festival, it is forward-looking…..seeking to forge friendship and alliances in order to get new films made.

This year, the Cinemart presents 42 projects in various stages of development from all over the world. The nature of the projects and the methods of promoting them are as varied as the films themselves. What they do have in common is their budget (all are $4 million and under) and that they are generally first-time directorial efforts or follow-up features to past successes presented in Rotterdam in years past.

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