Professionals from Europe and the USA gathered at the festival to discuss the current situation and the opportunities that might arise in the coming years

A moment from the panel (© Ulises Proust/SSIFF)

Once again this year, the San Sebastián International Film Festival has hosted its Creative Investors’ Conference within the scope of Spanish Screenings: Financing & Tech, organised by Spanish Screenings XXL. 25 September saw the participation of Atwater Capital founder and managing partner Vania Schlogel, Participant CEO David Linde and Goodfellas founder Vincent Maraval.

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Moderated by CAA Media Finance’s Roeg Sutherland, the panel “Where Are We Going Next” tackled the most pressing questions both from the European and the US perspectives, such as whether the film industry will ever fully recover after COVID-19, and last year’s writers and actors strikes. Regarding the current state of film production in the USA, Schlogel commented, “It’s been really hard to attract capital to the sector because the executives are afraid after everything that happened, but this is starting to unwind, we have had a totally abnormal environment these years. The interest rates are coming down and we are starting to see the end of cost-cutting programmes in corporations.”

As for the struggling US exhibition business, highly conditioned by the bigger presence of streaming platforms and the reaction from traditional distribution companies, David Linde explained, “We have to keep in mind that the major media companies in charge of distribution are in a very bad transitioning moment, trying to figure out who they are. Companies are looking for alternative ways to create a broader spectrum of revenue. We’ve gone through a catastrophic period of time, and we’ve come out of it, so the opportunity for capital is increasing in different places.” Specifically, he added, “At the end of the day, it comes down to originality – Sony bought Alamo Drafthouse for a reason. There might not be a market for regular repeats of films that feel familiar, but there is going to be one for original films shown in original ways.”

In such a situation, with everything being so difficult, what can be the reason to keep going? Vincent Maraval was clear about it: “We saw cinema 'dying’ ten times, and it’s just not happening. Nowadays, with platforms, you really have a choice, they offer many options, hybrid window combinations that let you be creative in finding ways to exploit your film. And even in this situation, this summer was the biggest in terms of theatre admissions in France since 2015.” He continued, “Last year was the best year financially for our company thanks to Hayao Miyazaki’s The Boy and the Heron. Netflix made it popular for everyone. Actually, these platform people we love to blame for everything are helping us. If we see them as an obstacle, we will never be creative enough, but in fact, those people brought a level of creativity that has never been seen before. And the result is that kids are watching their phone more and more but they still want to go to cinema. It’s just that what they want to see requires much more creativity than before.”

Regarding their approach to production in Europe, Maraval explained, “We are investing in talent that are developing their film themselves, in their own environment. We need to give space to creativity, to people who know what they want to do, who are not formatted, and who are young. This generation likes to create and immediately share it and confront itself to it. It’s a new way to create and consume, and we have to open our eyes to it.”

According to the experts, a bridge between the US and European industries would also be very welcome. David Linde said, “US executives don’t know about the big European companies, and that is a golden opportunity. If they approach them, they will become increasingly reliant on them. European companies live in a partnership business, they come from a background of figuring it out, and they create content together that has value all around the world. US studios are going to become increasingly invested in the IP and the business models coming out of Europe.”