22/11/2012 - The new date for the Business Street also means that a new concept is needed for the film market in Rome

The postponement of the International Rome Film Festival has had a unfavorable impact on the Business Street, with various distributors and world sales companies not attending the film market in Rome. In addition, many buyers complained about the line-up.

"The Business Street used to be a great opportunity for buyers and sellers to catch up before the AFM started," said Michael Stejskal, CEO of Austrian distribution company Filmladen. "This has changed due to the postponement of this event. So far most of the time the executives of the world sales came to Rome. This year many companies only send some of their sales agents. This reflects the value of the market."

Alessandro Lombardo, head of acquisitions and sales at the Cologne-based outfit Luna Films, met with several clients. "We got a lot of interest for Kid, which was presented in the Alice in the City competition." Dirk Schürhoff, managing director of Beta Cinema, used the opportunity in Rome to talk with buyers about their line-up for Berlin. "We showed some trailers," Schürhoff said. "One of our huge upcoming projects is The Medicus."

The sales team from The Match Factory also reported two first deals, but several distributors complained that there was a lack of 'smart' films to attract a wider audience. "Many distributors didn't come to Rome either. The distributors complained that there was a lack of smart films that attract a wider audience. The concentration on world premieres is not very helpful," underlined Ira von Gienanth, managing director of licensing/ acquisition of German distributor Prokino. "A movie that had its premier in Toronto still needs a European platform. For the distributors it is more important to see the films they missed in Venice, Toronto or San Sebastian than some world premieres in Rome."

In terms of quantity, there was a smaller line-up on Business Street because the number of screening rooms has been reduced from seven to five. "It is striking that Business Street is completely separate from the festival," said Cyril Thurston, CEO of Xenix Filmdistribution in Switzerland. He suggested that the most important festival films should be shown to distributors in a special screening room, very similar to what takes place in Locarno. "It is not feasible that we have to line up for tickets in order to attend a festival screening. Furthermore, the distributors can not do their business properly if the world sales of the festival films are not around. The Business Street has to come up with improvements and needs to create new stimuli."