20/11/2012 - The European organisation of international sales agents is organising its first conference this Saturday, November 24, in Paris

Founded in 2011, Europa International, an organisation bringing together several leaders among Europe's international sales agencies, is to hold its first conference on Saturday, November 24, in Paris. In the morning programme of this event open to all film industry professionals is a debate titled From Pipedreams to Pipebusiness to discuss the European and American experiences in film distribution and promotion. The topic will be addressed via two panels, one on marketing via social media and the other on new ways of broadcasting via VoD platforms.

The end of the afternoon is to feature a presentation of Distribution 2.0, a project headed by German international sales agency The Match Factory whose director Michael Weber is also the president of Europa International, the organisation behind this initiative along with Media Mundus. The project's objective? To create a professional network to explore new ways of marketing and distributing films on an international level, by encouraging distributors to innovate, as well as exchange ideas and experiences to create visibility and ensure the circulation of independent arthouse films. Social networks, viral marketing, digital distribution, day-and-date releases, and flexible programming structures are all at the heart of this project managed by Jenny Walendy (The Match Factory) who will hold a "Work in progress" on the subject in Paris.

The Europa International conference is to be part of the larger 17th Europa Cinemas film theatre network conference (from November 22 to 25).

(Translated from French)