By Jesús Silva Releasing independent animated films remains one of the most enduring challenges for publishers across Europe, primarily due to the complexities of identifying and engaging the appropriate target audience while dealing with unbalanced competition from major American productions. Collaboration between distributors is essential to address these obstacles and develop effective marketing strategies for…
Polyfilm
Europa Distribution Wraps its Fourth Edition of the EDMentorShe Programme in Brussels
By Sarah Quinless The EDMS programme was first created in 2019 with the aim of increasing female representation in management and leadership positions in the independent distribution sphere. While the sector otherwise maintains an equal balance of genders, with women very well represented in acquisitions, sales, programming, communication, press, marketing and legal affairs, this…
DISTRIBUTORS FROM ALL OVER EUROPE (AND BEYOND) SHARE HOW THEY BRING THE SEASON’S MAJOR DOCUMENTARIES TO CINEMAS, THROUGH TAILORED EVENTS AND PROMOTIONAL CAMPAIGNS
By Alberta Mutti Release strategy changes from one country to another but sometimes there are many interesting similarities. The implementation of new and innovative releases strategy is necessary when it comes to documentaries: from side events to the involvement of partners and institutions, the process of releasing and promoting a documentary varies continuously. This was…
EDMentorShe wraps its second year
By Aurore Engelen The second edition of the mentorship programme for female distribution professionals, devised by Europa Distribution, has now wrapped in Brussels After launching a highly promising first edition of it EDMentorShe programme at the height of the pandemic (read our article), the European network of independent film publishers and distributors Europa Distribution…
The “new normal” for independent film distribution. Europa Distribution in San Sebastian
By Isabella Weber Things change and practices evolve in all businesses, and the pandemic seems to have pushed the accelerator extra hard for the film industry. After almost two years of co-existence with Covid-19, it is clear that many things we were used to will not go back to being just as “before” and…
Interview with Hans König, Head of Distribution of Polyfilm, Austria
By Jesús Silva We spoke to Hans König, Head of Distribution at Polyfilm, who shared with us some of the main traits of the Austrian market for independent film distribution, such as the strong connection with Germany and the necessity to rely almost exclusively on theatrical distribution. In order to tackle the effects of…
Let’s Talk Animation: Europa Distribution at Cartoon Movie 2020
by Isabella Weber Over the past few years several independent distributors started to invest more in animation films for family and kids, in order to vary their line-up and grow their audience. Until five-six years ago the big studios specialised in animation were releasing fewer films per year, following a regular calendar and…
Focus on Austria
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…
