The numbers are good. With more than 480 companies exhibiting at over 180 stands and offices, the EFM locations Martin-Gropius-Bau (MGB) and Marriott Hotel are at full capacity. According to Beki Probst, director of the European Film Market (EFM), “There are many more companies than last year.”
Thus, the upcoming edition of the Market (February 6-14, during the Berlin International Film Festival) seems promising.
The market director is convinced it is, despite her cautious previsions: “One can never take anything for granted, this is a highly erratic industry. A market’s task is to provide structure, but the decisions are made by the professionals, and they also depend on the product that is being sold.”
Nevertheless, they are well equipped to tackle changes at the Berlinale, precisely because of the flexibility of this structure. There are many novelties this year at the EFM, chiefly among them a new co-director, Andrea Kaul, who with her twenty years of experience in various leading media companies“is developing new strategies in adapting to the current changes in the media landscape,” says Probst.

New this year is our offer of Catch-up Screenings – curated by the festival programmers, taking place the second Thursday of the EFM (February 13)- in three CinemaxX theatres. “It will allow Market-goers to catch up on festival films; there will be three for each section,” adds Probst.
Meanwhile, the EFM screenings have earned themselves a new venue, the Zoo Palast, the historic Berlinale cinema that was reopened in December and will screen both Festival and Market films on five screens.

Also new, and important, is the EFM’s Berlinale Talents Market Hub, dedicated to the young participants of Berlinale Talents (February 8-13 at the HAU Hebbel am Ufer).
“One of our goals is to introduce young talents at the Market,” says Probst. “So there will be a stand in Martin- Gropius-Bau where people can get a taste of the 40 film projects these young filmmakers are developing.”
Besides being in the MGB, ten Talents will pitch their projects at the 11th Berlinale Co-Production Market (February 9-11).
In 2011, Fabio Mollo’s South Is Nothing was one of the pitches, this year it’s screening in the Festival’s Generation section.
Last, but certainly not least, the Berlinale Co-Production Market, directed by Sonja Heinen, will present 39 projects: the ten Talents projects; 20 projects in the official selection (that have already secured 30% of their budgets, which range from €700,000 to €6.5m); three projects from Rotterdam (Rotterdam-Berlinale Express); and six from the Berlinale Residency, which runs from August to November and gives film- makers support and the chance to consult with industry professionals and script advisors.

This year, the Coproduction Market will also host Breakfast and Books, dedicated to book proposals for film adaptation.

ITALIAN FILM COMPANIES AT EFM
The Italian companies at the EFM: Adriana Chiesa Enterprises, ACEK, Fandango, Intramovies, Istituto Luce Cinecittà, Lumiq Studios, Minerva Pictures Group, , Variety Communications, Ellipsis Media International, FVG Audiovisual Fund , Filmexport Group, Frame by Frame Italia, GraffitiDoc, Gruppo Alcuni, ICE – Italian Trade Agency, Kinesis Film, MEDIA Salles, Nomad Film Distribution, PFA Films, PMI – Partner Media Investment, Rai Trade, Transmedia Production, ZeLIG School for Documentary.