Berlin’s European Film Market and Frontières, the international genre co-production market organized by Canada’s Fantasia Film Festival, are teaming to stage a EFM Frontières Focus, a showcase of five genre titles to held during next February’s EFM.
The genre films eligible for selection can range from psychological thrillers to horror, sci-fi, fantasy. and hybrid forms. Titles presented will be in works in progress or in production. Aiming to connect standout genre works with sales agents, distributors and festival programmers or secure completion finance, “this platform is committed to challenging outdated notions of the genre and spotlighting the creative force behind it,” highlighting “the depth, range and artistry of genre cinema,” the Berlin Film Festival announced Wednesday.
A title’s director or producer will pitch their work directly to an industry audience and then screen clips from the film. Exclusive networking events tailored to the genre community will complement the program, “providing unique opportunities for business and collaboration in a focused, dynamic setting,” the Berlin Film Festival added.
“Genre filmmaking is enjoying a remarkable surge in creativity and visibility, attracting leading creative voices, top talent and bigger budgets, and EFM Frontières Focus will place it firmly in the spotlight,” said Tanja Meissner, director of Berlinale Pro. “This exciting collaboration will open up new opportunities for creators, producers, and industry professionals, and is a natural extension of our shared commitment to bold storytelling and innovation in cinema,” Meissner said.
“Annick Mahnert and her team have consistently championed daring, visionary work, curating projects that push the boundaries. Their unique perspective has enriched the global genre market with stories that are as original as they are powerful. We’re truly pleased to have them on board for this new chapter.”
“Frontières is excited to partner with theEuropean Film Market (EFM) on this new initiative, creating a dynamic space for films in production and post-production to find sales and distribution opportunities. We’re proud to bring our genre-driven perspective to one of the industry’s most influential marketplaces,” Mahnert added.
Frontières already runs a highly successful Cannes Frontières Platform and a Frontières Co-Production Market in late July in Montreal running parallel to the Fantasia Film Festival. Both serve testament to the growth of genre as it is ever more embraced by the film community worldwide, and
That can be seen even at Switzerland’s Locarno, traditionally a bastion of arthouse films where renowned former arthouse sales companies are moving ever more into genre or action-thriller pieces. At the same time, emerging directors are retaining the complexity of concept and social-issue reference of art films, but exploring them through fantasy or dystopian contexts.
At Locarno, at a high-powered keynote panel at Aug. 7’s StepIn – whose speakers also included AGC Studios’ Stuart Ford and Element Pictures’ Ed Guiney – Berlin Festival Director Tricia Tuttle argued that one of festival’s biggest challenges “has been increasingly since the ‘80s and ‘90s the disconnect between the commercial, the very commercial side of the industry and the side of the industry that I work in, in festivals. There’s a chasm which has been getting broader and wider every year.”
The EFM Frontières Focus looks like one move which can close this chasm, as genre ever more scales up in budgets and artistic ambitions and broader audience acceptance.
