Stephen Kelliher is the managing director of London-based sales and finance company Bankside Films, which he co-founded in 2007. The outfit boasts success with both first-time discoveries, as with The Quiet Girl from Colm Bairéad and Jim Archer’s Brian And Charles, and seasoned auteurs, such as Peter Strickland’s Flux Gourmet.
How significant is the AFM for business?
Historically, the AFM has always been a robust market for us. I can’t remember ever coming away from AFM with a bad result, but my sense is there are going to fewer exhibitors [this year].
Are you manging your expectations?
I’m anticipating a smaller event than in the past, but still hopeful that levels of business we’ve done historically can be repeated. Cannes was a really strong and buoyant market, Toronto less so. It’s dependent on how aggressive the US buyers are feeling. If they’re aggressive, that tends to filter through to the rest of the market.
Was it a conscious decision to announce three new horror projects for AFM [Went Up The Hill, The Moogai and The Not Polly]?
It’s definitely not a conscious decision. We have had significant success with classy takes on genre. We’re not drawn to horror at its base level. It has to be something distinctive, from a director with a different voice. That will always be a part of our business, because it’s been so successful, but we are genre agnostic.
Are you taking meetings with streamers?
Yes, we have good relationships with all of them, but I feel they haven’t been as active in the independent space of a good while. That’s possibly because that particular sector has become very competitive, and the bullseye for them is becoming smaller from an independent point of view. They want big cast and big directors.
What’s next for Bankside?
We’re taking tentative steps into television. We have one or two very carefully considered projects. It’s a new area for us, we need to learn as we grown. It’s unlikely we’ll be selling, but developing and having ownership over the IP.
And the film that got away?
The one that will always stick in my head is Irish film Once. I loved it, but couldn’t marry that with how it would perform commercially. To my shame, I had three or four opportunities to acquire the film. It went on to play in Sundance and was a huge success for Fox Searchlight.
No comments yet