by Birgit Heidsiek Sometimes, the name says it all. This was the case when Austrian distributor Polyfilm released the documentary The Happy Film by Stefan Sagmeister & Ben Nabors that attracted more than 17.000 cinemagoers in Austria. “We are looking for arthouse and crossover films but we also distribute many documentaries”, says Hans König, Head of Distribution…
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MEDIA Success Stories, Volume II: Scope100, European Film Challenge and Europa Distribution
by Isabella Weber After analysing the role that the MEDIA programme has had in the support of European film distribution through its schemes directly dedicated to distributors over the past years (read here the article), we explore here the goals and the achievements of two projects (Scope100 and The European Film Challenge) and of one sector’s association (Europa…
How to give old films a new life? Europa Distribution Panel in San Sebastian brings you Back to the Future
by Isabella Weber In a cinematic era dominated by nostalgia, representatives of the film industry too have sometimes the tendency of looking behind thinking “those were the days”… The golden days when independent films could count on a long theatrical exploitation, when free TVs were still buying quality content and a DVD was considered a…
(Don’t) Burn after reading. Europa Distribution’s new workshop on Script Evaluation in Karlovy Vary
by Isabella Weber Immersed in the peaceful atmosphere of Karlovy Vary’s rivers and woods, thirty members of Europa Distribution took a step back from their daily working routine to acquire some new tools on Script Evaluation and share their perspectives with other distributors working in different territories. It all started on a Monday.…
MEDIA programme: A success story for European film distribution
by Isabella Weber Ever since its creation in 1991 the MEDIA programme has pursued the objective of increasing the circulation of European films within and beyond Europe. The reason is simple: such films have the ability of carrying the values of the European cultural identity. When in 2014 the programme was reshaped under the Creative Europe…
Focus on Russia and Lithuania
by Jesús Silva Following some of our previous articles about the situation of independent film distribution in countries such as Iceland, UK and Portugal, we will now take a look at the landscape of a very particular tandem of states: Russia and Lithuania. We have interviewed the members of Europa Distribution based in these countries in order to get…
Focus on Iceland: Bíó Paradís and the challenges of releasing independent cinema
by Birgit Heidsiek The “Seven Year Itch” turns out well for the Bíó Paradís, a cinema and distribution company in Iceland that is showing European arthouse films and U.S. independents. With “Moonlight”, the distributor released for the first time a movie that was also booked by other exhibitors in Reykjavík. “We are releasing the…
Europa Distribution Animation Workshop at Cartoon Movie 2018
by Isabella Weber In the framework of the 20th Edition of Cartoon Movie, Europa Distribution organized on March 7th a workshop dedicated to those many independent distributors within the Association who are engaged in bringing independent and European animation films to local audiences. While many members are habitués of the Cartoon event, and have…
Everything you always wanted to know about Distribution but were afraid to ask: PIRACY
by Isabella Weber On Saturday 21 October, Europa Distribution, in partnership with MIA, gathered a panel of experts in Rome to acknowledge and discuss the elephant in the room: piracy. The roundtable, moderated by Paolo Marzano (President of the Permanent Advisory Committee for Copyright at the Ministry of Cultural Heritage, Italy), analysed the latest data…
The Bigger Picture on Public Film Funding – Europa Distribution in San Sebastian
by Isabella Weber Absorbed in the small, time-consuming everyday tasks, sometimes professionals find it it hard to take a step back and look at the bigger picture. This is especially true for distributors when it comes to scouting for public film funds, which are essential in supporting the releases of many European titles. Up…
