Dennis Ruh, the director of the European Film Market (EFM), is predicting a ‘very busy’ event as the film industry gears up for its first major post-strike market.
Ruh anticipates plenty of commercial English-language projects being presented at EFM, which runs from February 15-21, and that there will be a big contingent coming from the US.
“EFM is the first big market after the [writers and actors’] strikes, which means that many companies are coming with new projects that were held back,” said Ruh.
Ruh’s comments come amid a flurry of pre-EFM package announcements from companies including A24, which is handling Celine Song’s romantic comedy The Materialists, understood to be starring Dakota Johnson, Chris Evans and Pedro Pascal, FilmNation and CAA Media Finance which are bringing Roofman, to which Channing Tatum is attached and Neon International’s psychological drama The Housewife, starring Naomi Watts.
The US has the second highest number of registrations for this years EFM, behind only Germany. Some 700 US execs have registered for the market, compared to 1,000 for Germany.
“It feels much higher than usual,” said Ruh, who attended last year’s American Film Market (AFM) which took place in the midst of the strikes. “Many confirmed [there] that, especially after the strike, the EFM is the place to be to restart selling rights.”
Ruh also predicts a busy market for independent and European content buyers looking to fill slates left with holes due to the strikes. “The postponements by the big majors have created space for the distribution of independent or non-US productions.”
Certainly, there is a big European presence this year with over 500 EFM registrations apiece from France, Italy and also from the UK.
Last year, the EFM had a record 11,500 market participants. “I think we can expect this number or even slightly higher this year,” says Ruh.
Italy is the EFM’s country in focus this year and has the biggest number of exhibitors at 82 companies, nearly 14% of the total exhibitors at the EFM. The US, France and Germany are also big exhibitors this year, each accounting for around 10% of the total 600 stands.
Elsewhere, the EFM is running a full schedule of events including the EFM Industry Sessions which run from February 16-20. This will have a key focus on AI. New for this year is AfroBerlin, organised by Yanibes, focused on the African film industry. The Berlinale Series Market will also mark its 10th edition.
For Ruh, this will be his fourth and final market as EFM director. Back in December, he announced that he would be leaving after this year’s event, citing a decision not to renew his contract. The news, he said at the time, “was brought to me via official channels. There was no conversation with the new Berlinale director [Tricia Tuttle].”
As yet, Ruh says it is too early to talk about his post-EFM plans. He also says, with one market still to go, it is too early to sum up his time at the EFM.
“At the same time there are some milestones,” he says. He’s proud of delivering his first market in 2021 as a successful online only event in the midst of the pandemic. He also picks out the return to a full in-person event last year with record breaking participation.
He admits, though, that this year’s EFM will be ‘bittersweet’ for him, and says he had been working on lots of plans to develop the market further. “The bittersweet aspect is that a market is not only organised from year to year. I was working also a lot on strategic developments of the market. There are projects which are not completed.”
“At the same time,” adds Ruh, “I think I have delivered a good result for the market with my team and I’m hopeful that whatever will happen next, that this will be considered.”
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