10/02/2013 - Danis Tanović's Berlinale Competition entry An Episode in the Life of an Iron Picker has been picked up for Turkey, Romania, Bulgaria and the former Yugoslavia under the Operation Kino label

International Istanbul Film Festival, Transylvania International Film Festival, Sofia International Film Festival and Sarajevo Film Festival made a joint acquisition of Danis Tanović's Berlinale Competition entry An Episode in the Life of an Iron Picker [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Danis Tanović
film profile] for their respective territories. The film will be released into the territories under the MEDIA Mundus-supported Operation Kino label.

“The ‘Festivals-as-distributors’ business model has proven attractive to the rights-holders, especially in the developing markets such as ours, since it guarantees a blend of festival publicity and classic P&A spending for their films, giving them sufficient visibility to achieve attractiveness in the ever saturating market for films. The fact that the films acquired for Operation Kino get wider releases with more publicity and marketing adds to the competitiveness of the model in relation to traditional distributors in these territories. The model of festivals-as-distributors we believe can flourish in such circumstances,” says Jovan Marjanovic, head of Industry at the Sarajevo Film Festival.

“Festivals have long been the primary market for many films. We work with and know our audience, we have a relationship with the talent and the rights holders and we have the visibility required to champion smaller films, especially the ones from our region,” says Stefan Kitanov, director of the Sofia International Film Festival.

More acquisitions are to follow, confirm Azize Tan (Istanbul Film Festival) and Tudor Giurgiu (Transylvania International Film Festival). Also, label partners are planning the launch of a Video on Demand platform and introduction of Cinema on Demand packages.