Asian film execs are back in Cannes - eager to sell, wary to buy and happy to be back.
“We have more meetings scheduled with European buyers than usual – even compared to 2019,” said Bryce Tsao, director, international distribution at China’s iQIYI, which is launching market titles including the Chinese remake of mystery thriller The Invisible Guest.
Buyers with films in the festival such as Hong Kong’s Edko Films, which pre-bought Hirokazu Kore-eda’s Competition title Monster, are eager to see how their acquisitions perform. “Awards help with the marketing,” said Mandy Lam, general manager, sales and acquisitions at Edko, who is in town looking for “quality arthouse and commercial films from around the world”.
As for rising asking prices, “scary” is a word oft repeated by buyers. “Although, it will depend on the offers everyone makes,” said one who preferred to stay anonymous.
“The market is polarised and the price of a few promising projects are getting higher. Also, we are struggling with a weak exchange rate,” said Keizo Kabata, managing director of Japan’s Twin Co., in reference to a weak Japanese yen against the US dollar.
“The Japanese market is getting back to normal, but most films on the weekly box office chart are Japanese these days and animation films are especially very strong. Independent foreign film distributors like us are facing a challenging situation. But there is a good sign that the number of younger cinephiles in their 20s and 30s are growing so we are looking for films for those audiences as well,” he said.
“It’s already exciting that this is our first Cannes market since 2019 and the pandemic, but having our director and cast here for the world premiere of Cobweb Out of Competition is making it an even more special Cannes,” said Sylvie Kim, head of international business at Korea’s Barunson E&A, which has also picked up sales rights to its first non-Korean title – Giddens Ko’s Miss Shampoo and is launching sales at the market.
Whether they have titles in the festival or not, execs from Asia are happy to be getting back to business in-person at Cannes.
No comments yet