Travel within Europe is returning to normal as the coronavirus pandemic winds down. The same is not yet true in Asia, where some countries are behind the pandemic curve – Hong Kong is currently closed to all travel from nine countries – making FilMart’s online market a viable way of connecting film industry buyers and sellers without the quarantine and testing hassle.
Eight European sales companies make their FilMart debuts this week on the Europe! Umbrella! stand at this year’s third virtual edition of the Hong Kong rights market. In total, 25 European sales outfits, hailing from eight countries have signed up to use the European Film Promotion-operated platform within a platform.
For Asian distributors which did not make it to Berlin and the European Film Market the umbrella allows them to dip into several Berlinale titles where rights in Asia are still available.
These include Coproduction Office’s Berlin competition title “Rimini” by Ulrich Seidl and Beta Cinema’s “The Forger,” by Maggie Peren, which had a special gala screening.
From the Berlin Panorama section, titles being offered at FilMart include: “Lullaby,” by Alauda Ruiz de Azua (Latido Films); “Somewhere Over The Chemtrails,” by Adam Koloman Rybansky (Pluto Film); “Beautiful Beings,” by Gudmundur Arnar Gudmundsson, which awarded the Europa Cinemas Label (New Europe Film Sales); “Una Femmina – The Code of Silence,” by Francesco Costabile (Intramovies); and Anika Pinske’s feature debut “Talking About the Weather” (Films Boutique).
New participants operating this year under the umbrella include: Pulsar Content, French companies Coproduction Office, Film Seekers France and Reel Suspects.
Umbrella regulars include: Be For Films from Belgium/France, DFW International from The Netherlands, Picture Tree International and Sola Media from Germany, True Colours from Italy, Film Factory Entertainment from Spain, Minerva Pictures from Italy and LevelK from Denmark.
To boost sales to the region, has awarded financial support to back sales companies’ international promotional campaigns of ten European films. These include Film Factory Entertainment’s “A Piece of Land”; Films Boutique for the documentary “A Taste of Whale”; LevelK for “The Last Client”; Magnetfilm for the documentary “Kids Cup” and “Inside the Uffizi”; Picture Tree International’s “Alma and Oskar.”
The virtual “Europe! Umbrella! at FilMart is supported by the Creative Europe – MEDIA Program of the European Union with backing from the EFP members German Films and ICAA – Instituto de la Cinematografía y de las Artes Audiovisuales (Spain) and Cinecitta (Italy).
