Buyers have delivered their verdict on the Berlinale’s first official selection overseen by festival director Tricia Tuttle.
Talking to Screen, buyers praised the quality of films in official selection but many questioned the commercial potential of many of them.
Cannes has done well from a number of crossover arthouse hits in the past few years, such as The Substance, The Zone Of Interest, Perfect Days and Anatomy Of A Fall, which have all delivered strong commercial returns for distributors worldwide and many buyers are keen for those kinds of films to also screen at Berlin.
This year’s festival doesn’t seem to have moved the dial dramatically. Most agree it has showcased exciting new voices and interesting, personal stories, rather than movies with significant box office potential. But buyers say it has been a good start for Tuttle and her team – and that 2025’s edition bodes well for the future.
“Tricia’s selection was ambitious, eclectic and open,” said Gregory Gajos, director of sales and acquisitions at France’s Ad Vitam.
“A first year is always a challenge, but the complete selection from the Competition to Perspectives and Panorama was of the highest quality. It was a breath of fresh air,” he continued. “Tricia has the potential to really leave a mark on the festival and put Berlin back on the same level as Cannes or Venice, which it hasn’t been for several years.
”We didn’t make any acquisitions because our programme is fully charged for the coming months,” Gajos explained. “But there were several films we really liked.”
Deals
There have been a steady trickle of deals announced for official selection films this month, among them competition titles such as Radu Jude’s Kontinental ‘25, Frédéric Hambalek’s dark comedy What Marielle Knows, Kateryna Gornostai’s Timestamp, Huo Meng’s Living The Land , Ameer Fakher Eldin’s Yunan and Golden Bear winner Dreams (Sex Love).
Panorama drama The Good Sister and Special Gala title Late Shift also announced sales during Berlin.
Sony Pictures Classics (SPC)’s co-president Michael Barker was in Berlin to premiere Richard Linklater’s Blue Moon in Competition. “It was a great place to have the world premiere. So many press from many countries came and discovered the film in one fell swoop,” he said.
“Berlin was spectacular this year. There was a warmth about it. The new head [Tuttle] is spectacular. I met a lot of filmmakers. Tricia is focused on finding new exciting from around the world. This year was a vibrant slate of filmmakers from around the world. She’s locked into new talent. She was the first [festival director] to call us on Blue Moon. She’s into tradition as well as the new.”
Several UK buyers agreed Tuttle’s eye for new talent was impressive.
“The industry is constantly looking for new talented filmmaking voices and we felt that Perspectives really nailed the assignment, showcasing a selection of debuts from names that I am sure we will soon become familiar with on the festival circuit,” said Eleonora Pesci, acquisitions manager at Curzon, which has previously picked up buzzy Berlin titles My Favourite Cake, The Teachers’ Lounge and The Quiet Girl.
“This year’s Berlinale has lived up to the expectations and provided buyers with a balanced mix of good festival films and upcoming projects to be excited about.”
Zak Brilliant, head of the UK’s MetFilm Distribution and MetFilm Sales, is offering on one Perspectives title, plus a couple of market entries. There were “a few little gems in the Berlinale and in the market,” said Brilliant. “Some good debuts and discovery-type titles.”
“Things are much slower nowadays – we expect our Berlin/EFM conversations to play out over the coming weeks and months,” he added.
Graham Fulton attended the festival and market with Jen Davies, his business partner and co-founder of UK distributor Conic. “The festival programme was really enjoyable this year, but nothing from the competition or Panorama really got us going,” said Fulton. “It was mostly the titles from Sundance that we were most impressed with. Some of these made it into Perspectives but we were mostly able to catch them in the market screenings.”
Personal stories
Huub Roelvink of Benelux distributor Cherry Pictures acquired three titles at Berlin: competition titles Ari and Timestamp and Panorama drama The Good Sister.
“I did feel that the selection was quite strong. The quality was consistent. Most of the stories seemed to be relatively small, personal stories that say things about our time. For many distributors, subtle stories about difficult subjects can be tough to release into the marketplace though. For us, that’s not necessarily a bad thing. Our market in the Netherlands is very healthy so we can work with the smaller titles.”
Tobias Lehmann, managing director of Germany’s Alamode Film, added: “Tricia’s first edition was a great success for us.”
The German distributor arrived at the Berlinale with two films that world premiered well with audiences, Special Gala title Koln 75 and Golden Bear winner Dream (Sex Love). He said the Berlin world premiere for Koln 75 “was the perfect starting point for our German release in March.”
Turning to the official selection, Lehmann said: “From a distributor’s point of view, the films in all sections could be more commercial. There weren’t many titles that will attract a bigger audience in Germany.”
Alamode has still come away from Berlin with a couple of titles though. It has just finalised the acquisition of Gabriel Mascaro’s Silver Bear winner The Blue Trail, and acquired a project in pre-production at the EFM. “I guess that makes it a successful market for us,” said Lehmann.
Like many European distributors, Lehmann was at Berlin looking for both finished arthouse films with potential in cinemas and for upcoming projects with well-known directors, cast or topics that will aim for future A-list festival launches.
“Both things were there in Berlin, but we wouldn’t have minded to have more of these projects and films. There is still space for improvement for the festival and market in the next years. But a start in the right direction has been made this year,” said Lehmann. “Most importantly, though, was the new spirit and energy that Tricia and her team were living throughout the whole time of the festival. It was very different to the previous years and that makes us very hopeful for the coming years.”
Scott Shooman, head of AMC Networks Films Group, which houses IFC Films and Shudder, acknowledged the Berlinale showcased good films, however he wanted to see more eye-catching commercial prospects.
”The festival selection had numerous solid movies but lacked the standouts that we hoped to see,” he said. ”Like most festivals, there were a few films that hit the mark for what they were trying to achieve, a few misses – but nothing really that jumped out from a commercial standpoint for our current needs. Berlin tends to be more of a market-focused opportunity for American buyers – more so than what we see in a festival programme line-up.”
Shooman added, ”Sundance lacked sufficient quantity of commercial product to fill all the various distributors’ needs, so we, like others, are looking to Berlin, SXSW and beyond to help us programme the rest of our year.”
For some French buyers, Berlin offered the opportunity to buy arthouse films at a lower price than had they screened in Cannes.
At least for French arthouse distributors, there was something for everyone,” said Marie Foulon, head of acquisitions at France’s Paname Distribution. ”It was a strong competition. All of the French distributors I know found things they liked.”
Paname bought two Competition films, The Blue Trail and What Marielle Knows, making an offer on the latter right after the first market screening. It bid on another but was beaten to the punch but another local distributor.
Clement Chautant, acquisitions head at Arizona Distribution, which presently has Berlinale 2024 title My Favourite Cake on release in France, also had a good festival.
“We acquired Hong Sangsoo’s What Does That Nature Say To You in competition, a very surprising film from an auteur who is always celebrated in Berlin,” he said. “Other films sparked our interest and we weren’t the only ones. It confirmed to us as, an arthouse distributor focusing on international films, that the Berlinale has a lot to offer and this new edition with Tricia Tuttle in charge seemed particularly mindful of this.”
Stefano Finesi, a partner at Italy’s Teodora Film - which has recently enjoyed success with Flow, Small Things Like These and Anatomy Of A Fall - closed a deal at the EFM on a major project for 2026, but hasn’t acquired any titles from the competition or other sections of the festival.
“The festival always has a very interesting selection, full of new and exciting voices, but often these are films that are not easy for a larger audience,” said Finesi. “Unfortunately, in this edition we did not find anything that was suitable for Teodora’s editorial line and budget.”
For Eddie Bertozzi, head of acquisitions at Italy’s Be Water Film, the competition featured “a number of interesting titles and auteurs that most possibly fed the cinephiles’ appetite more than the buyers’.”
As a result, Be Water focused largely on projects at the EFM. “Although top-notch, must-have projects were scarce there too. EFM undoubtedly remains a key event not only to acquire films, but also to get a feeling of the overall international market and what to expect next.”
Market moves
SPC’s Michael Barker was cheered by the energy of this year’s EFM.
“We saw promo reels and read screenplays and engaged in conversations with films that we will become involved with in the future. We got involved with Blue Moon very early. We’re doing more of that. We got involved early on with the Ralph Fiennes film The Choral, which is in post, and we’re a co-production partner on Scarlett Johansson’s Eleanor The Great.
“When you come in at the beginning it’s a lot easier, because [if you don’t invest at that stage] when you come back the streamers are offering five times what you can afford. You don’t feel that pressure when you come in early.”
AMC Networks Films Group’s Shooman took a different perspective. ”There were definitely some interesting packages, but also some packages with some head-scratching attachments,” he said. ”We are still in talks on numerous projects, but this market lacked any sense of immediacy. The demeanour of the sales agents almost feels like a malaise, whether from the lack of achieving their pricing targets, or overall financing structures.”
Chinese sales and production powerhouse Rediance attended the EFM for the first time as a buyer, looking for films for a theatrical release.
“We felt that the market reaction in general was still lukewarm,” said Rediance CEO Xie Meng, who said they were still reviewing screeners and hoping to close some deals soon. “We were aiming for some primary films in the Berlinale line-up, and meeting sales agents. We were also looking at what [sales agents] have prepared for the upcoming Cannes.
“We were able to meet a lot of people we wanted to meet, and for those of who we didn’t get a chance to meet there, we’ll be going to [Hong Kong] Filmart. Of course, we hope to strike some deals at Cannes as well.”
French sales companies arrived at EFM fresh from the Paris Rendez-Vous where they had had the undivided attention of buyers.
“In Berlin, if a film isn’t in the official festival selection, buyers are less inclined to jump at completed films,” observed Alice Damiani, SVP international film sales at Newen Connect. “Eastern Europe was particularly active at this market and also Germany, Spain, Portugal, Benelux and Switzerland. Italy, however, was a bit less inclined to commit to films in earlier stages and are waiting to watch completed films.”
In general, she said, “Buyers are really looking for pure entertainment and feel-good movies.”
Bac Films’ Vincent Llobell added: “Buyers are still being careful, at least for smaller arthouse films….From my perspective, the 2025 market is still a bit slow - everyone is waiting for Cannes. Our new title Once Upon A Time In Gaza, directed by Tarzan an Arab Nasser, sparked interest from many buyers because we made a promoreel for the market. We received offers that we are still reviewing.”
“In terms of timing, Berlin is a breath of fresh air before Cannes and then the fall festival rush so it would be great if top films could end up [in Berlin] as well,” suggested The Bureau Film Sales’ head of sales Clementine Hugot. “But it should be an effort from the entire industry. It is up to us to also submit films not only to Cannes and Venice.”
Barker’s Sony Pictures Classics chose EFM to announce it had acquired North American and Latin American rights to Rebecca Zlotowski’s French-language murder mystery Vie Privée starring Jodie Foster. Goodfellas showed a promo and the film is in post. The film is now tipped for Cannes. Or Venice.
No comments yet