Three buyers of foreign films get SFI support
by Annika Pham
Folkets Bio, NonStop Entertainment and Atlantic Film are the first three independent arthouse distribution companies to receive support from the Swedish Film Institute (SFI) as part of the institute’s overall strategy to strengthen the import of quality films in Sweden.
Folkets Bio was awarded SEK1.230.000 (€132,000), NonStop SEK1.000.000 (€107,300) and Atlantic Film SEK 700,000 (€75,000). The support will go towards the distributors’ P&A costs based on the number of foreign titles acquired and the companies’ track record in arthouse in Sweden.
“These are three distributors that have a clear quality profile and work creatively with distribution and marketing,” said Linda Zachrison, head of the SFI Audience Department. "They also have the obvious ambition to make films available to new audience groups and cinemas outside the bigger city centres.”
Last November, the SFI announced its plan to strengthen quality distribution and exhibition in response to a fast evolving film landscape. Among the key changes introduced was the allocation of a P&A grant on a yearly basis instead of a film by film basis. Johan Hansson, deputy managing director for Atlantic Film said: “The support is very important for us. This support lowers the risk. In the end it gives the public a better variety of films.”
Folkets Bio CEO Marie Booberg also commented: “I can now act faster when I buy films because I know I have this annual financial support, and I can work more freely, without all the paperwork hassle. Plus, the grant is higher than before.”
Folkets Bio, whose line-up is one-third Swedish and the rest foreign, just picked up in Cannes the critically acclaimed, animated docu-feature Waltz with Bashir [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile] by Israel’s Ari Folman, French film A Christmas Tale [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile] by Arnaud Desplechin and the German/French animated feature The Three Robbers by Hayo Freitag.
Folkets Bio was also awarded an extra SEK 850,000 grant from the SFI for the distribution of Swedish shorts and documentaries.
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