Rome sees Business Street growth

The Rome Film Festival’s (Oct 16-25) boutique market Business Street (Oct 17-21) has reported a record 25% increase year-on-year in international buyers, sales agents and producers, according to organisers. This should see a rise on the average number of industry accreditations of 750.

The market will welcome approximately 90 sellers and 283 buyers from more than 50 countries.

Attending sellers will include The Match Factory, Beta Cinema, Wild Bunch, Gaumont, Le Pacte, EuropaCorp, HanWay, WestEnd and Bankside.

Buyers include TWC, Magnolia, Film Movement, Memento, Senator, Soda, A Contracorriente, Metropole and Cineart as well as Asian buyers from Hong Kong, South Korea, China, Japan and Australia.

“This year we are looking at 20-25% year-on-year growth,” confirmed Business Street head Massimo Saidel. “By the end of July we were having to turn people away.”

Industry events

The market will feature around 80 market screenings as well as the return of sidebar Re-make It!, a selection of completed films with remake potential.

This year’s industry events include a China Day on Oct 18 including panels, presentations and networking; and a market focus on Argentina and Brazil, with both countries bringing large delegations to the market to meet with local and international industry.

The Argentina and Brazil focus will include case studies and presentations from producers and representatives from South American organizations Ancine, Cinema do Brasil and INCAA.

Co-pro market

New Cinema Network (NCN), the festival’s co-production market, will be held from Oct 19-21.

Highlights of the NCN include new projects from Gremlins director Joe Dante – a Rome-set love story between a werewolf and a vampire; an ambitious Chinese-Italian drama from Yim Ho; a new drama from Michael director Markus Schleinzer; and projects from Italian directors Alberto Fasulo and Giovanni Maderna.

Italian films

Also making a return to the market is the Italian films spotlight, Italian Film Boutique.

Films screening as part of the boutique include well-received Black Souls, biopic Leopardi and festival opener Soap Opera.

According to Saidel, the selection encapsulates a revival in Italian filmmaking: “The 20 curated films in IFB are all very good and diverse. There are a lot of discoveries to be made.

“There’s something happening in Italy. We are seeing a renewal of Italian cinema and we can see that to an extent in this lineup.”

New Cinema Network 2014: selected projects

BREAK di Hernan Guerschuny (Argentina)
Produced by Pablo Udeño

ANGELO di Markus Schleinzer (Austria)
Produced by Alexander Glehr

DUETTO di Bruno Barreto (Brazil)
Produced by Rita Buzzar

NESSUN DORMA di Yim Ho (China)
Produced by Ting Liang

IL FU MATTIA PASCAL di Sheng Zhimin (China)
Produced by Dong Yang

OBSCURE ANIMAL di Felipe Guerrero (Colombia)
Produced by Gema Juárez Allen

GHOSTS OF THE CITY di Montasser Hegazy e Marianne Khoury (Egypt)
Produced by Marianne Khoury

IN WHICH LAND YOU DIE di Ahmed Maher (Egypt)
Produced by Ahmed Maher 

THE SPY AND THE POET di Toomas Hussar (Estonia)
Produced by Ivo Felt

CHILD OF THE BREAST di Haile Gerima (Ethiopia)
Produced by Haile Gerima

9 FINGERS di F.J. Ossang (France)
Produced by Catherine Dussart

IL SEGRETO DI CARAVAGGIO di Paolo Benvenuti (Italy)
Produced by Francesco Paolo Montini

MENOCCHIO di Alberto Fasulo (Italy)
Produced by Nadia Trevisan

DRIFTWOOD VALENTINE di Giovanni Maderna (Italy/UK)
Produced by Christine Alderson

THE BIZZARE JOURNEY OF THE SOUL TRAVELER di Manetti Bros (Italy)
Produced by Du Yuling

WHITE SHADOWS di Fabio Mollo (Italy)
Produced by Andrea Paris

IL METODO AMLETO di Marco Simon Puccioni (Italy)
Produced by Giovanni Alessandro Cassinelli

SOSIA di Zapruder (Italy)
Produced by Luca Legnani

1313 - DANTE’S EMPEROR di Bady Minck (Lux)
Produced by Alexander Dumreicher-Ivanceanu

PORCELAIN di Jenneke Boeijink (Netherlands)
Produced by Sander Verdonk

RETABLO di Alvaro Delgado Aparicio (Peru)
Produced by Enid Campos

CHARLTON HESTON di Andrei Cretulescu (Romania)
Produced by Codruta Cretulescu

ALEX ON SEVENTH di Engelbert Phiri (South Africa)
Produced by Guy Bragge

VOLCANO di Roman Bondarchuk (Ukraine)
Produced by Olena Yershova

OIL ON WATER di Newton Ifeanyi Aduaka (UK/Nigeria)
Produced by Valérie Osouf

OMBRA AMORE di Joe Dante (US)
Produced by Elizabeth Stanley

OPERATOR di Logan Kibens (US)
Produced by Felipe Dieppa