04/02/2009

As the European Film Market (EFM), held parallel to the 2009 Berlinale, opens its doors today (and runs until February 15), the latest official figures show a rise in buyers and new companies, though fewer exhibitors.

Attending this year’s market will be 1467 buyers from 59 countries, compared to 1073 from 54 countries in 2008. World distributors will be able to navigate more freely and comfortably between two main exhibition spaces: the existing Martin-Gropius-Bau (MGB) and the new official location at the Marriott Hotel.

The latter exhibition space was made available by EFM Managing Director Beki Probst in response to exhibitors’ growing demands, and was an immediate success. All new stands were immediately booked, hence the rise in the total number of stands (148 in 2009/120 in 2008).

There was also an almost equal number of stands booked between the two venues (77 at MGB and 71 at Marriott offices), unlike last year where more stands were booked at the MGB compared to the EFM Exhibition offices at Potsdamer Platz 11 (78/42). Thus, fewer companies have offices in hotels this year compared to 2008 (39/60).

However, as a higher number of buyers looking for new films will attend, fewer exhibitors are registered (407 companies from 55 countries against 430 companies from 51 countries in 2008), reflecting the current international economic crisis.

The decrease in the number of companies attending as part of the MEDIA umbrella is particularly sharp, with almost half of them coming this year (86). However, the good news is that a much higher number of new players will be doing business (97 in 2009/48 in 2008) and new countries announced include Indonesia, Kazakhstan, Malaysia, Jordan and Egypt. And just as in 2008, the majority of exhibitors are from Germany, France, the US and the UK.

In terms of product, a slightly reduced volume of films will be screening (695 in 2008/732 in 2008), but almost an equal number of new projects will be introduced (521 in 2008/554 in 2008).