After surviving the political-media storm surrounding the preparations of the seventh edition – although it would be more correct to talk about the first edition directed by Marco Müller – once again this year the Rome Film Festival will be presenting its own Market with The Business Street and New Cinema Network.
The format is almost the same as for last year. Almost the same, because one piece will be missing from this year’s Market: Industry Books, the event at which the au- diovisual and publishing industries come face to face with each other that – the organizers promise –will return next year.
Faithful to its historic formula – an “informal”, “lightweight” market … no exhibition spaces just places for professionals presenting films and projects to meet – The Business Street 2012, co- ordinated by Diamara Parodi, comes after the American Film Market in Santa Monica (Octo- ber 31st – November 7th), and is thus the last international market of the year.
The locations of the Hotel Bernini Bristol, right at the heart of the meetings between buyers and sellers, the Casa del Cinema (for the NCN meetings) and the Cinema Barberini (for the screenings) have all been confirmed, whilst the conferences will be concentrated this year at the Auditorium Via Veneto.
The dates – November 14th/18th – coincide with the second part of the Festival (which starts on November 9th at the Auditorium Parco della Musica and ends on November 17th): this will give professionals the chance to also work on movies that have already been screened at the Festival.
And it is the movies selected for the Festival that will give a boost to the Market this year: Müller’s decision to privilege world premieres has had the effect of increasing the number of first market screenings. In fact, there will be 42 (compared to around thirty last year), more than half of which come from the Festival’s of- ficial sections, out of a total of over 100 movies that will be screened in the Cinema Barberini’s four theaters and the two theaters in the Casa del Cinema.
Another important new feature for the 2012 Market is that the screenings in the two largest theaters of the Cinema Barberini will be open to the public, and the movies shown previously at official Festival venues will be screened again.
These “repeats” will offer an additional service to buyers and sellers who will have a chance to see the reception the movies get from real audiences and not just festival-goers. Many of the movies on the Festival bill will be “tested” at the Cinema Barberini.
The movies in competition include: “Andtheycallit summer” by Paolo Franchi and “The Face of Another” by Pappi Corsicato, from Italy; “The Motel Life” by Gabriel and Alan Polski and “A Glimpse Inside The Mind Of Charles Swan III” by Roman Coppola, from the US; “Večnoe Vozvraščenie (EternalHomecoming)” by Kira Muratova, from the Ukraine; “Un enfant du toi (You,mends)” by France’s Jacques Doillon; “Ixjana” by Jòsef and Michal Skolimowski from Poland; and “Never die” by Enrique Rivero, from Mexico.
There will also be space for movies from other sections: from Cinemaxxi there is “All about you” by Alina Marazzi and “Centro Historico” by Aki Kaurismaki, Manoel de Oliveira and others; from Eventi: “Enzo Mirigliani, storia di un ragazzo calabrese”, “Jewish in Rome” by Gianfranco Pannone and “The game of mirrors” by Carlo Di Carlo.
Also to be re-screened at the Barberini, in the mornings or afternoons: “Ali blue eyes” by Claudio Giovannesi (in competition) and the movies from the Prospettive Italia section: from “Discovery at dawn” by Susanna Nicchiarelli to “The island of the fallen angel” by Carlo Lucarelli, “Razzabastarda” by Alessandro Gassmann and “Giuliano Montaldo, four times twenty years” by Marco Spagnoli.
It will be interesting to see how the latest products from the 2012 edition of The Business Street are received by international buyers and sellers: with overall figures that are basically unchanged with respect to last year (there were 820 accredited visitors at the end of the 2011 edition), the organizers of the Market have announced an increase in participants from China (due to the “Spotlight China” initiative), as well as from the United States and the United Kingdom.
The new entries include, from China, the Bona Film Group, China Film Group Huaxia Film Distribution, Huayi Brothers Media Corporation and Lion & Phoenix Corporation; from the US, IM Global, Figa Films, Cinetic International and Orange Entertainment; Independent from the UK; DCM Filmverleih and Global Film from Germany; Gaga Corporation from Japan; Picture Works and Star Entertainment from India. These will join The Business Street veterans such as Canal +, Piramide Films, Wild Bunch, Universal Pictures, Celluloid Dreams, Beta Cinema, Alliance-Momentum, Fortissimo Films and Prokino Filmverleih.
And, from Italy: Rai Trade, Intramovies, Adriana Chiesa and Europe will share an open discussion on each specific situation and market while focusing on co-productions, equity funds and fiscal incentives from all the various perspectives.