The Sales Office ends the year with positive results in terms of the extent of the various industry-related activities and the number of companies and countries that joined us – over 550 production and distribution firms, government agencies and festival representatives from 40 countries, and some 1000 accredited film industry professionals.

The most noteworthy activities were Focus On Eastern Europe, organized in collaboration with Media Antena Euskalherria, and sponsored by the Donostia Film Commission and the Film Cities Network, Interreg III. Five countries, Estonia, Slovakia, the Czech Republic, Poland and Slovenia, held a total of thirty meetings with producers, media office delegates from each country, and Spanish and French production and distribution companies including Latido Films (France-Spain), Surreal Films (France), Barton Films (Spain) and Tinko Filmeak (Spain).

Nearly forty people from Spain and the United States attended “Puentes de Cine: EE.UU.-España” (Film Bridges Spain-US), sponsored by Filmanova Invest. Issues discussed at the workshop included the distribution of Spanish films in different exhibition circuits at cinemas, universities and in DVD. Guest speakers were Rebeca Conget of New Yorker Films, Marta Sánchez of Women Make Movies, Raymond Murray of TLA Entertainment, José Antonio Félez of Tesela Producciones, Kevin Williams of KWA and Simón de Santiago of Sogepaq. Also attending the workshop were Julio Noriega of Venevisión, Antón Reixá of Filmanova Invest, Paz Alvarez of ICEX, Nicole Guillemet of the Miami International Film Festival, among others.

PURCHASES/SALES

During this year’s edition of the festival most of the films sold were part of one of the sections:

LETTER FROM AN UNKNOWN WOMAN (Official Section) concluded its sales to Spain during the first few days of the festival (Barton Films).

TURTLES CAN FLY (Official Section) signed a sales agreement to Spain in San Sebastián with Alta Films. OMAGH (Official Section) was also sold to Spain (Alta Films) by Portman Films.

Primer Plano Film Group sold PROXIMA SALIDA (Zabaltegi) to Switzerland (KinoLatino), Italy (Voir Trade), Spain and Portugal.

EL CIELITO (Official Section) was sold to Switzerland (KinoLatino) by Scalpal.

DARWIN’S NIGHTMARE (Zabaltegi) was sold to France (Ad Vitam).

Y HÉCTOR (Made in Spain) will be distributed in Switzerland, Germany and Austria by KinoLatino, and to France by Colifilm.

DIAS DE FÚTBOL was sold to the UK (Dogwoof Pictures) by Sogepaq.

The films sold through the Sales Office which did not tak part in any of the sections were CONVERSACIONES CON MAMÁ, sold to the US (Ventura Films), and PERDER ES CUESTIÓN DE MÉTODO, sold to Switzerland (KinoLatino).

Other offers have been made on films included in the Official Section, which are expected to close in the forthcoming weeks.

SCREENINGS

With regard to Sales Office screenings, 40 have been in betacam and DVD from different countries, in addition to the Spanish films from the Official Section and Zabaltegi.

There were also nine private 35 mm screenings of films from the Official Section for buyers only.

This year the Sales Office organized a single screening of LA CÁRCEL DE LA VICTORIA for member of the press, guests and accredited film industry professionals, which included the presence of both actors and the film’s technical team.

PUBLIC INSTITUTIONS

An official delegation from the Province of San Luis, Argentina, presented its financing plan in the framework of the Sales Office, for films made in the province and signed three agreements with Filmanova Invest (Spain), BR-3 (UK) and Bulbeck & Más (Spain).

Also present was Proimágenes en Movimiento from Colombia promoting Colombian cinema, which carried a good deal of weight at this year’s festival and in the Sales Office. To mark the occasion, the Colombian ambassador to Spain was the guest at the Colombia Day celebration.

CO-PRODUCTIONS AND NEW FIRMS

Co-productions agreements between Spanish and French production companies were made at this year’s festival, and are expected to close in the months to come.

Filmanova Invest, a new production company, underscored its guidelines in terms of participation as co-producers. And representatives of new audio-visual companies attended the festival, including the new Spanish distribution firm On Pictures.

VIEWINGS

There were 430 viewings of 400 titles from the Sales Office video library.

The most viewed pictures were:

Mala Leche, 30 viewings; El cielito, 18 viewings; Próxima Salida, 17; Pueblo Chico, 15; No sos vos, soy yo, 15; Astronautas, 13 and La sombra del caminante, 13.

Some of the other most requested films were: Frío sol de invierno, Brothers, La sagrada familia, Perder es cuestión de método, Je t’aime moi non plus, Silver City, Chiche Bombón and Ivan Z.

FOREIGN COMPANIES AT THE FESTIVAL

Highlighted among the many foreign distribution companies present at this year’s festival are: Bavaria Film International, Primer Plano Film Group, Asian Union Film & Media, China Film Group, Trust Film Sales, Condor Media, Film Finders, HBO Latino, New Yorker Films, TLA Entertainment, Venevision International, Ventura Distribution, Warner Independent Pictures, Women Makes Movies, Arte France, Celluloid Dreams, Colifilms, Diaphana, Epicentre Films, Film Distribution, ID Distribution, Latido, Le Studio Canal, MK2, Ocean Films, Onoma, Scalpal/Momento, Surreal Films, TF1, UGC International, Wild Bunch, Blue Star Movies, Element X, Miramax Films, One Eyed Films, Portman Film, Fortissimo Films, Voir Trade, Wiesner Distribution, Non Stop Sales and Xenix Filmdistribution.

THE SALES OFFICE IN NUMBERS

At the festival were:
A total of 40 countries;
550 companies, festivals and government agencies;
and 1000 accredited professionals.

Distributors: 258 members from distribution firms in 21 countries, 18 of them European.

Production companies: 365 accredited production company professionals from around the world.

Festival Programmers: 71 accredited programmers from 52 festivals in 20 countries.