24/09/2025 - The German producer and new industry head gives an insight into his approach to organising the event in Hamburg that attracts film professionals from all over Europe

(© Alina Bader)

German producer Fabian Massah (Oblivion Verses [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Alireza Khatami
film profile], Symphony of Now [+see also:
trailer
film profile]) is the new head of the Filmfest Hamburg Industry Days (29 September-2 October), which will host the international B2B events European Work in Progress (EWIP – see the news), the International Film Distribution Summit (IFDS) and the Explorer Konferenz. We spoke to him about the restructuring process, which ensures that the industry event will attract film professionals from all over Europe.

Cineuropa: Filmfest Hamburg Industry Days presents three major industry events. What kinds of synergies do you expect between EWIP, IFDS and the Explorer Konferenz?
Fabian Massah: A real advantage is that there will be much more of an exchange between production and distribution professionals, which enables new networking opportunities. The audience that came previously to the Explorer Konferenz, the IFDS or EWIP focused on particular content. Now, we have all of these events under one roof, which gives producers, distributors and sales agents the chance to mingle and meet. For example, a distributor can attend a case-study presentation on production that he wouldn’t have visited before, and vice versa. We are looking at innovation and have a lot of case studies where participants share insights. Most people have a pretty good idea of how international sales, distribution or production work, but they might not know the details. With Torsten Frehse [see the interview] and his team, who established EWIP and IFDS so successfully in the past few years, we are bringing all of these fields under one umbrella. Right away, this makes Filmfest Hamburg Industry Days one of the two biggest B2B events for the media industry in Germany, with more than 1,000 accredited professionals. This is a strong signal for the industry.

How will this strengthen the international orientation of Filmfest Hamburg Industry Days?
This restructuring process has given us a chance to focus clearly on the unique points of each programme. For example, we decided to offer the new “Made in Germany” series of talks as a platform where topics can be discussed with regard to the domestic landscape. Meanwhile, we have made the Explorer Konferenz more international than it was before. The IFDS and EWIP already had a European focus. This new structure gives us a big boost in terms of attracting many more non-German industry players. This year, twice as many international participants registered for the Explorer Konferenz. At IFDS and the Explorer Konferenz, we will have about 500 professionals attending, who are all decision makers, such as producers and distributors.

Filmfest Hamburg Industry Days kicks off with a panel discussion on film politics. What are the hot topics?
We begin with a topic that affects every producer, distributor, sales agent and filmmaker. As we all know, the social-media platforms that we use the most are operated by US or Chinese corporations. Right now, their costs for advertising are on the rise, but the reach is getting smaller. The question is whether European cinema can develop its own strategy to create visibility and strengthen audience engagement. We will discuss this issue with Filmfest Hamburg director Malika Rabahallah, arthouse cinema exhibitor Felix Grassmann, film journalist Rüdiger Suchsland and Anne-Cécile Rolland, head of Acquisitions at Pyramide Distribution and Pyramide International. We will tackle new forms that could arise out of Europe because if you’re too dependent on a certain system, you’re kind of trapped. The whole ecosystem has to come together and think about what could be some tangible solutions. It’s a big question, of course, about the future of film promotion.

What are the key issues facing the German film and media industry?
Germany is one of the biggest markets in Europe, catering to an audience of about 100 million German-speaking people who watch films and TV. A lot in this market depends on how especially the major players – with the public television stations being by far the biggest – behave. It is about their reliable commitment to investing money in the creative ecosystem, which is an urgent issue. But it is also about their further strategic decisions that enable the production of films with a much richer variety. After all, this is in the interest of the audience, who want to have a surprising and captivating programme to engage with.

The “Made in Germany” series of talks tries to tap into different fields, from financing, through creativity, to decision-making. To give you a few examples, one session will deal with the decision-making processes in public TV. We also have sessions about new filmmakers from the BIPOC community who lift the lid on stories that haven’t been told yet and have the potential to reach a wider audience. We present a case study about shooting with disabled people, and we have a panel about equity investment, which is one pillar of film financing. In Germany, although there is interest from investors, there is just no structured system behind it, unlike in France, for example.