NEWS Zurich market opens for business


BY ANDREAS WISEMAN Never a festival to stand still, Zurich is hosting an industry mar- ket for the first time. The ZFF Filmboutique will


showcase German, Austrian and Swiss productions from the last 12 months, including completed films and works in progress. “If you’re interested in buying


Roman Polanski


Polanski to adapt Venus In Fur


BYMELANIE GOODFELLOW Roman Polanski, who was here in Zurich last year accepting the Life- time Achievement Award, revealed last week that his next film will be a French-language adaptation of David Ives’ Broadway hit Venus In Fur this November. Ives’ Tony-winning drama


revolves around the power play between a writer-director and an actress desperate for the lead role in his upcoming play, which is based on Leopold von Sacher- Masoch’s 19th century erotic novel Venus In Furs. Polanski ’s act ress wi fe


Emmanuelle Seigner is set to co- star opposite Louis Garrel in the French adaptation, entitled La Venus A La Fourrure. Polanski is adapting Venus In


Fur alongside playwright Ives. Alain Sarde and Robert Benmussa are producing “I’ve been looking for an oppor-


tunity to shoot in French with Emmanuelle for some time and on reading Venus In Fur I knew the moment had arrived,” Polanski said in a release announcing the project. “I’m so impatient to direct this brilliant comedy that I’ve decided to shoot it immediately, ahead of D, the script and pre-pro- duction of which requires several more months,” he said. D is a historical political thriller


inspired by the 19th century Drey- fus affair, a French political scan- dal involving a Jewish officer who was wrongly imprisoned on charges of treason. Robert Harris, who co-wrote The Ghost Writer with Polanski, is writing that screenplay. Lionsgate/Summit Interna-


tional, which is also handling D, has picked up international sales on Venus In Fur. ICM is represent- ing North American rights.


German-language films we are providing a place to do that,” says Zurich’s artistic director Karl Spo- erri. “We thought this would be a good way for Swiss films to get more attention from international buyers and we wanted to bring more foreign industry to the festi- val. There are screening days in each German-language territory but no purpose-organised event that combines screenings for Ger- man, Austrian and Swiss films.” Around 30 films will screen in the market and eight projects will


participate in a work-in-progress sidebar, including Horizon Beauti- ful, the new film from Birthday director Stefan Jäger; C-Films’ comedy Recycling Lily, produced by Peter Reichenbach; and work from first-time directors. “We have invited about 40


industry [guests] on top of all the festival attendees and so far the response has been great,” enthuses Spoerri. Thorsten Ritter, executive vice-


president acquisitions, sales and marketing at Munich-based Beta Cinema is one of the industry guests who is excited about the opportunity. “I’m very positive about the market. Switzerland is a very important market for us, and Zurich is a great place for non- English-language film-making so it will be really convenient to have a concentrated session of screen- ings in which I can immerse


Recycling Lily


myself. I’m looking forward to meeting local distributors and net- working with other industry.” Ann-Kristin Westerberg, COO,


rights and international sales at Stockholm-based Svensk, agrees: “It’s always useful to see how dif- ferent markets operate. We try to make personal trips to see our cli- ents so Zurich’s Sweden Focus, in which we have two films, provides


Ursula Meier’s Sister (L’Enfant D’En Haut, pictured) has been selected as the Swiss entry for the foreign-language film Academy Award. International sales are being handled by Memento Films International, and the US rights were acquired during the Berlinale by Adopt Films. Other films selected for the Oscar race this week include A Royal Affair (Denmark), The Clown (Brazil), Purge (Finland) and War Witch (Canada). Germany has put forward Barbara.


Swiss cinema booming in 2012


BY ANDREAS WISEMAN Switzerland’s film industry is in rude health. Ticket sales increased year on year in 2011 and the number of films produced was high at 26. The positive trends look set to continue. “This has been a great year for


Swiss cinema,” confirms Francine Brücher of promotion agency Swiss Films. “It started at the Ber- linale where we had three films in official selection. Ursula Meier’s Competition entry Sister was the most successful, winning a Silver Bear, doing well at the Swiss box


office and selling to 50 countries. But we have also had films at Cannes, Venice and Toronto.” Swiss films are making just as


big an impact at home. Markus Imboden’s drama The Foster Boy, released in November 2011, but playing well into 2012, has been the most successful local film in five years, selling more than 235,000 tickets. The last 12 months have also


seen Switzerland’s first 3D film in the shape of Markus Welter’s hor- ror One Way Trip 3D, which took advantage of the growing digital


screen presence in Switzerland, which has mushroomed from 55 screens two years ago to more than six times that number today. However, it’s not all rosy, cau-


tions Brücher. “Like everywhere in Europe, Switzerland may seem like a paradise from the outside, but in reality it’s not that easy to find financing for films,” she says. “The private money in Switzer- land usually goes to major US films shooting in Europe. It’s a dif- ferent matter when it comes to arthouse and auteur Swiss films.” Swiss Films has also had to fight


to maintain state subsidies for the industry. This year it won a key battle to maintain export subsi- dies, for example, which were sus- pended in 2011 due to cutbacks. “Festivals continue to be of key


The Foster Boy n 4 Screen International at the Zurich Film Festival September 23-25, 2012


importance for the launch of Swiss films,” says Brücher. “Locarno is very important but, for distributors, the Zurich Film Festival can become increasingly important too, providing they use it effectively.”


a good opportunity to do that.” As with the festival as a whole,


the plan is for growth. “We defi- nitely want to develop this sec- tion,” says Spoerri. “We’ll see how this first edition goes and then think about how we can make it bigger and better.” The ZFF Filmboutique takes


place at Arena Filmcity between September 27-29.


Asghar Farhadi


Farhadi kicks off Master Class series


BY WENDYMITCHELL The festival’s series of Public Mas- ter Classes kick off today (Sunday) with Oscar-winning director Asghar Farhadi speaking at 5pm. The Iranian film-maker, whose credits include About Elly and A Separation, will talk about the challenges facing film-making in Iran, and the exchange of cultural ideas between East and West. The series continues on Mon-


day with famed Hollywood pro- ducer Jerry Weintraub (Ocean’s Eleven, The Karate Kid, Nashville) talking about what makes a great producer and about his motto “be willing to be lucky”. German director Tom Tykwer


follows on Friday, sharing his experience of making films from Run Lola Run to the new Cloud Atlas. Finally, Frank Darabont — who is also here in Zurich as jury president — speaks on Saturday about his work as a screenwriter and director. His projects include The Shawshank Redemption and the new TV series L.A. Noir.


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