“I think that it is a great place to have meetings with buyers from all the world: you really have time to spend with them…unlike other markets..” says Nicolas Eschbach, from France’s TF1 International.

“To meet important buyers, Italian especially but also from other countries. Our main interest is naturally to find buyers for our films and, as always, we are interested in good and internationally marketable films at decent and realistic conditions”
These are the reasons why Michael Werner, from Sweden’s No Stop Sales, attends Business Street.
“Also, in the short and long term we want to understand the Italian market’s present situation, needs and possibilities”.

“Rome is the best window for discovering new Italian films” adds Andrés Martin of Vertigo (Spain).

“We are expecting more goods films to watch,” says Jean-Thomas Bernardini of Imovision, who has been distributing independent movies in Brazil for 21 years.
Bernardini is a “veteran” of Business Street:
“I have been going since the first edition.
On top of the lovely Rome, we are able to work better than at other Festivals.
For this reason I’m coming back.
The best quality, for sure, is the easiness of meeting sales agents, unlike the Venice Festival for example.”

Frank Stavik of Norway’s Fidalgo, is also a Business Street veteran: “The Business Street is an efficient and well-organized way of screening, taking meetings and negotiating.
I have attended since the beginning, and find it very valuable.
The location is also a bonus.
I am expecting to find a nice combination of new films and films missed at earlier markets.
We are looking for feature films, primarily for theatrical distribution, but we buy all rights, so they should work on video and TV as well.
Sadly neither shorts nor documentaries are of interest to us, as it is impossible to reach even a break-even point on those films.
The odd documentary may work, but the risk is too big, so we abstain.”

Raisa Fomina is the Art Director of Russia’s Intercinema, both a buyer and a seller: “I like the atmosphere and organization of Rome’s Business Street, it is one of the most well organized meeting places.
It is another opportunity to meet colleagues from different countries, discuss the situation we all face with the distribution of small quality films in the financial crisis period, share our experiences and look for ways out.”
Intercinema has distributed a number of Italian movies in Russia: “La Finestra di Fronte” and “Cuore Sacro” by Ferzan Ozpetek and “L’Imbalsamatore” by Matteo Garrone, recently also purchasing his “Primo Amore”.
“To my great disappointment, Italian movies do not attract big audiences in Russia but I am doing my best to promote the directors I love.”

P.V.C. in Greece is also considered to be a distributor that represents Italian movies.
Peggy Carajopoulou- Vavali, Managing Director, says: “We distribute all the rights of the films we acquire, that is, theatrical, video, television, internet, etc.
Due to the uncertainty caused by the international and local crisis, both in the economy, as well as in our field of business, we are very careful with the cost-benefit analysis of our potential acquisitions.
We have become even more selective as to the quality, the subject matter, the crew and the cast and, of course the budget.
We usually distribute high cinematic quality films that attract both the movie buffs and the general cinema-going audience”.