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THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 16 2012


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Marco Müller


Rome could move to November


Solid deals at EFM with an eye to busy Cannes


under Müller BY MIKE GOODRIDGE One of the hot talking points at this year’s EFM is what Marco Müller will do should he take charge of the International Rome Film Festival, as is looking likely. The former Venice festival chief, reliable sources say, is planning to move the Rome festival to the third week of November — starting before the US Thanksgiving holiday — and create a solid concurrent market focused on attracting European and Asian buyers. The logic behind the move of


Rome from late October to later in November is to create a fourth major film festival three months after Venice/Toronto and three months before Berlin, and to offer an alternative premiere outlet for the logjam of titles that competes for Venice, Telluride and Toronto. Müller’s appointment is not yet


fi nalised and is contingent on the departure of president Gian Luigi Rondi, whose contract expires in June, and the incoming president, assumed to be ANICA head and former Warner Bros Italy chief Paolo Ferrari. Müller has been in Berlin taking


meetings with producers and sales agents pitching the new date, which would insist on world pre- mieres in the festival and tie the festival and market more closely than the existing Rome structure. While Rome would fall after


AFM in Los Angeles, he would focus on strengthening market ties between West and East, namely China, Russia and India. He is apparently close to recruiting a market chief. There is also talk of a second


10-day festival of gala premieres in Rome in June/July, which would act as a launchpad for films for local and international press. The titles would screen at the Massenzio, a 1,700-year-old open-air amphithea- tre located in the heart of the Forum.


BY ANDREAS WISEMAN AND GEOFFREY MACNAB The 2012 EFM saw a healthy fl ow of sales on big-budget action titles and quality independent fare. While prices were not always top-dollar, most territories were busy and there was widespread optimism about the quality of the projects heading into what many were predicting will be another buoyant Cannes. The Solution’s Lisa Wilson, one


of a number of US sales veterans to arrive with new companies, told Screen: “Overall the sense I got was that people were very optimistic.” Mark Damon’s Foresight has had


near-sellouts on 2 Guns, Pierre Pierre and Reese Witherspoon com- edy Rule #1. Foresight will pick up at least two more titles for Cannes, both in the $60m-$70m range. FilmNation did a roaring trade


on titles including Steven Soder- bergh’s Bitter Pill, JC Chandor’s All Is Lost and Eli Roth’s Aftershock, among others, while Summit saw predictably strong business on The Tomb and buzz title Beautiful Crea-


tures. Exclusive’s hits included Can A Song Save Your Life?. IM Global offered Katherine Heigl-starrer The Happytime Murders; and Sierra/ Affi nity introduced buyers to Everly with Kate Hudson and Heat with Jason Statham. Sierra/Affi nity CEO Nick Meyer


said: “Berlin proved to be a buoyant market for Sierra/Affi nity and many other companies too. The response to our new titles was really strong.” While the MGB halls were not


jam-packed, there was appetite for a range of product. “When I look at the numbers, there is a plus in every section,” added EFM head Beki Probst. “More participants, more companies, more fi lms.” Accredited buyers went up to


1,700 from 1,532 last year. As expected, Italy and Greece


offered sellers little joy, and Spain prices continue to disappoint. “Italy and European countries are declin- ing but the rest of the world is improving,” Wild Bunch’s Vincent Maraval said of deals at the EFM. Despite that trend, Wild Bunch


Auzou heads to Russia


BY ANDREAS WISEMAN Venice Days deputy director Syl- vain Auzou will be the artistic director of the sixth International Independent Fi lm Festival Zavtra/2morrow, which runs Sep- tember 24-30 in Moscow. Auzou becomes the fi rst foreign


artistic director of the festival. The ever-popular festival has


given national premieres to titles including The Class, Arirang and Le Quattro Volte. It also hosts the Warsaw Film Festival CentEast offshoot Projects For Tomorrow, which connects professionals with the latest Eastern European and Russian independent fi lms. Twilight Portrait’s Olga Dykhovi- chnaya and Angelina Nikonova


Sylvain Auzou


head the festival, founded by direc- tor Ivan Dykhovichny, and backed by the Ivan Dykhovichny Fund, Fond Kino and Audi Russia.


Rafi Pitts teams with Radulescu, Karathanos on Soy Negro


Rafi Pitts is co-writing his next film, Soy Negro, with Romanian writer Razvan Radulescu, whose credits include 4 Months, 3 Weeks & 2 Days. Thanassis Karathanos, producer


of Pitts’ 2010 Golden Bear nominee The Hunter and co-producer of Edwin’s Postcards From The Zoo, will produce the Tijuana-set, English-


language drama about a Mexican man trying to cross the US border. Iran-born Pitts, who lives in


Paris, hopes to shoot at the end of 2012 or in early 2013. Medienboard Berlin-Brandenburg is backing. “I have been thinking about this


story since The Hunter,” he told Screen. “In a way, I empathise with


the Mexican character. Being in exile helps me understand his predicament. I’m slightly obsessed with borders at the moment and the idea of getting into trouble for crossing a border and the absurdity of the character’s position makes the film more of a black comedy.” Andreas Wiseman


saw good business on its slate, Elle Driver scored a raft of deals on Farewell My Queen and Bachelo- rette, and The Match Factory closed deals on a number of festival titles such as Postcards From The Zoo and Barbara. The BRIC countries continue to


rocket. “China was through the roof,” one executive told Screen. “India is strong for the right film and we’ve seen really strong num- bers from Latin America.” Russia also made a splash. Hot Asian sellers included CJ’s


war epic My Way, Toei’s Admiral Yamamoto and Lotte’s War Of The Arrows. Kini Kim, CJ Enter- tainment head of international sales, said: “People are saying that Chinese buyers are being very aggressive, though that could just be a bubble. European buyers are complaining about the economic situation in general, which is why it’s diffi cult for certain titles in these territories. “Overall, I’d say the market wasn’t fantastic, but fairly solid.”


Nuclear Nation


NEWS Nuclear power Wide House sells Nuclear Nation to the US. » PAGE 2


REVIEW It’s a zoo out there Edwin plays existential hide-and- seek in Postcards From The Zoo. » PAGE 4


FINAL PRINT EDITION This is Screen’s final print daily. We will continue to cover Berlinale and EFM news, reviews and features at ScreenDaily.com.


EFM LATEST DEALS


Mark Damon and Tamara Stuparich De La Barra’s Foresight has sold Rule #1 to Germany (Koch Media), Switzerland (Impuls), Philippines (Pioneer) and South Korea (Entermode). Pierre Pierre has gone to Taiwan (Studio Solutions Group), Philippines (Pioneer) and South Korea (Joyncontents).


eOne went on a huge buying spree including UK and Canada for 2 Guns from Foresight, Love Punch for the UK, Canada and Australia from SND and Miss You Already from Salt for the UK, Canada and Australia.


Thomas Vinterberg’s The Hunt, which TrustNordisk is selling off a promo, has now sold to the UK (Arrow Films) and Benelux (Wild Bunch). The Icelandic thriller Black’s Game has gone to Germany (Koch), Benelux (Wild Bunch) and Estonia (Estinfilm).


Dogwoof has sold Marina Abramovic: The Artist Is Present to Spain (Karma) and Poland (New Horizons).


Tianjin Film Studio has sold Legend Of A Rabbit to Portugal’s Zon Lusomundo Audiovisuals. The film’s sequel, Rabbit 2: Mysterious City Of Stones, has sold to Turkey (Ozenfilm), Indonesia (Mutu) and Iran and the Middle East (Media International Pictures).


Parlay’s thriller Red Lights starring Robert De Niro is going to be sold out around the world once the Australia deal closes.


» More on ScreenDaily.com


DAY 8


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