The 2014 Cannes Film Market wrapped up on 23 May, bringing to a close an incredibly busy and productive events schedule for the largest ever delegation of New Zealand producers to Cannes. A brief wrap-up follows—more detailed information will be provided in a separate Cannes Market Report and on a territory-by-territory basis for experienced producers.
This year we partnered with ANCINE/Cinema do Brasil, the Israel Film Fund, the Taipei Film Commission, the Polish Film Institute and the National Film and Video Foundation of South Africa on a series of individual producer discussions, aimed at fostering closer ties with new, established and prospective treaty country partners and stimulating collaboration. We also teamed up with the British Film Institute and Screen Australia for a standing-room-only session at the UK Film Centre that centred on UK-Australasia collaboration, featuring Dave Gibson and Sally Caplan (Head of Production, Screen Australia) and case studies from leading producers, Iain Canning and Tim White.
All of these sessions proved highly successful, with strong relationships formed and an array of follow-up meetings scheduled. Last year’s NZFC-Israel Film Fund producer roundtable led to the financing and production of the trilateral Israel-Germany-NZ co-production, Atomic Falafel and this year’s sessions show all the signs of leading to similarly exciting production outcomes.
Along with roundtable discussions, we also hosted (or co-hosted) separate networking functions with Australian, British, Canadian, Indian and Irish producers and their relevant sister agencies. These popular events provided a great opportunity for attendees in these territories to (re)connect with New Zealand producers and NZFC staff and for us all to showcase the New Zealand Screen Production Grant (NZSPG) and our industry’s committed international focus and desire for increased co-production.
This message was further reinforced in a special Doing Business with New Zealand breakfast session held in conjunction with Film New Zealand. The event featured overviews from Dave Gibson, Rochelle Cooney (Acting Head of Business Affairs) and Paul Davis (Film NZ’s Auckland Representative) on co-production, NZSPG and New Zealand’s competitive advantage for screen production. Foreign and domestic producers, financiers, agency staff and other industry figures attended, generating strong interest and subsequent meetings about specific projects and wider opportunities in, with and for New Zealand.
In addition to hosted events, CEO Dave Gibson took the opportunity to participate in a range of panels during Cannes. These included a co-production discussion hosted by the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FICCI) and a session looking at strategies to address financing cross-media and innovation convened by leading digital/transmedia agency, Power to the Pixel.
A key highlight this year was the signing of the New Zealand-Denmark co-production treaty on 19 May. We co-hosted a signing ceremony and networking lunch with the Danish Film Institute for experienced New Zealand and Danish producers, many of whom are already developing projects that will utilise the new treaty. The signing received strong exposure in the marketplace, with leading industry publications such as Screen and The Hollywood Reporter picking up on the news and running stories. You can read more about the treaty signing here.
We were also particularly delighted to co-host a lunch with Screen Australia to celebrate acclaimed New Zealand writer/director Jane Campion’s role both as president of the jury this year and as one of the world’s most outstanding and beloved filmmakers. This private event for Jane’s key colleagues, collaborators and supporters included leading lights of the New Zealand, Australian and international film industries and provided a wonderful opportunity to applaud success, foster relationships and inspire new generations of Australasian filmmakers.
Towards the end of the market, we ran two focused networking sessions with leading Australasian distributors and sales agents for New Zealand producers. Representatives from Curious, Entertainment One, Vendetta and other leading Australasian distributors mingled with New Zealand producers and discussed projects, opportunities for collaboration and market considerations. On the final day of the market we hosted (exhausted!) representatives from major international sales agents such as Celsius, Gold Crest, K5, LevelK, Protagonist, Raven Banner, Shoreline, The Works and The Yellow Affair for an informal networking lunch. This event matched New Zealand producers with the most appropriate sales agents for their projects/slates; its success means it will be a permanent fixture on our Cannes calendar over the years to come.
We acknowledge the many New Zealand producers who worked the market hard this year, through participating in the above events and full meetings schedules. We look forward to seeing their time in Cannes translate directly into strong project, slate and career outcomes over the coming months.