LOCARNO, Switzerland – The Locarno Industry Days 2024 is proving to be very exciting on several levels.
The festival’s industrial arm, Locarno Pro, had over 1,743 on-site delegates and 141 online accreditations, an all-time record of 1,886 delegates, up 23% on last year’s total of 1,530.
Business was frenzy among sales agents as 13 of the 28 titles that had not been announced for a sales agent in the Locarno Festival lineup on July 10 were selected for international sales as the festival got underway. diverse The company alone reported 16 sales, also a record.
With temperatures soaring to 36 degrees Celsius, the big question the industry was asking at this year’s Locarno Festival was why business – at least in terms of sales packages – seemed so upbeat. Here are some possible answers to this and other questions the industry was asking at this year’s Locarno Festival, Europe’s largest midsummer event.
Arthouse bypass…
What makes a film art may have changed. Thanks to new government funding, a new generation of directors emerged in the 2000s, making unconventional, sometimes simplistic films that tore up the rules of filmmaking: think of Carlos Reygadas’s “Japan.” Now the center of gravity in non-English-language filmmaking is increasingly shifting toward commercial arthouse cinemas that still address burning issues.
…and embraces the type
Moreover, some of the biggest hits in the markets since the festivals began seem like genre films. The director says the psychological drama “Sparrow” has a horror feel, while “Fréwaka” is “a dark old horror film.” diverseWhile “Mexico 86” wraps up the family drama in a political thriller. Overall, at this year's Locarno Festival, diverse Deals — buys and sells — have been announced for six films with genre elements — “Sew Torn,” “Fréwaka,” “Electric Child,” “Agora,” “Moon” and “Red Path” — the same number as for arthouse drama titles, six films as well. Of course, many films mix genre with social issues or simply drama. “The Irish mythological and political context of ‘Fréwaka’ is what makes it so memorable.” diverse The Red Path begins with a horrific act of inhuman jihad, which haunts the characters and the audience for the rest of the film, which boils down to a coming-of-age drama.
Locarno welcomes the makers of the new type
This rise in genre is driven more than anything by a new generation of filmmakers. At this year’s Latin America-focused Locarno Film Festival, five of its eight projects were genre films. They ranged from a terrifying love story about a vampire (“Vipre Caribe”) to a bizarre sci-fi from Ecuador (“UFOs in the Tropics”); Salvation from El Salvador, “a found footage horror thriller,” says its director; a video game thriller from Peru (“Return of the Last Mochica Warrior”) and a tropical horror story set in Jamaica (“The Ocean”). “Auteur films are increasingly saturated with genre tropes to tell real-life stories. This is a market trend, but also because of a younger generation of filmmakers who have developed their cinematic culture with films by masters like Carpenter, Lynch and Cronenberg, to name a few,” says Markus Duffner, head of Locarno Pro.
Smart type drives sales
Dufner also points out that the industry, the market and the audience are moving towards commercial art films. “Audiences around the world are choosing what we now call ‘art films’, which shows that there is an appetite for different ways of making films,” French director Solel Coutard said at the Match Me Forum in Locarno. diverse“From our perspective, Locarno provided a good platform for Freewacka, which received a lot of commercial reviews, press attention and was well attended,” says Jan Naszewski of New Europe Film Sales. “We are now receiving a lot of requests to screen the film and I think we have gone beyond what a traditional horror film would do. Freewacka is a smart film, offering more than just cheap thrills, so the setting in Locarno to be part of a larger conversation was perfect.”
Buzz headlines
“This dark psychological drama dealing with repressed domestic tensions should be an artistic breakthrough for Switzerland’s talented Zuercher brothers.” diverse The Bird in the Chimney has been called “a great Irish horror film”, while Freewaka has been called “a great Irish horror film”. diverse The film is also called “The Beautiful Summer” and is “a wonderful Italian period drama.” Tunisian director Lotfi Afour’s “The Red Path” is also widely acclaimed. So are Iranian director Leila Amini’s feature documentary “The Story of a Sister” and Cesar Diaz’s “Mexico 86,” which follows Cannes’s “Our Mothers,” winner of the Camera d’Or, and is supported by Bérénice Bejo, the singer of the popular song “The Artist.”
Locarno: A new mega platform for talent
So perhaps the number of sales agents who came to town for Locarno was greater than usual. Thanks to the film schools, the number of filmmakers entering the industry shows no signs of diminishing. Focusing on emerging producers (the networking forum “Match Me!”) or first- or second-film directors (First Look, Open Doors), Locarno Pro acts as a large but highly structured platform for new talent. “In our fourth year of working with Locarno Artistic Director Giona Nazzaro, we have fine-tuned our joint efforts to make Locarno even more attractive to the international industry,” says Dufner. “She trusts our festival and the Locarno Pro industry platform to present an impressive array of new talents, both in the official selection and among emerging professionals selected for our industry activities.”
Adapting to the new era
“Sales agents never die, they just print new business cards,” as the saying goes. And if sales is a profession, many agents have proven willing to adapt to tough times as overseas openings shrink and revenues on most foreign films decline. Aside from often entering production, as sales agents they will be willing to work at much lower margins on films they love. “We’ve been cutting our margins over the past decade or so,” says Lydia D’Amato of MoreThan Film, which acquired Locarno titles Listen to the Voices and Hanami (see below). “As the distribution business changes and evolves in ways we can’t fully predict, we’re also evolving and adapting our own business models.”
Rising tide?
There may also be other, larger factors influencing the picture. “There seems to be a positive vibe in the market overall, which logically also means that sales agents are looking for more content as well,” says Susanne Wendt, managing director of TrustNordisk. diverse.
“Moreover, it has become more difficult to finance films in the country of origin alone (at least in some regions). As it becomes more difficult and longer, more films are being made in collaboration with other countries, which also gives the films greater international appeal.”
Flexible Family and Children Sector
Sales agents can also look for options that still have a large audience in cinemas, such as family entertainment and children's entertainment. In dealing with Locarno, Danish sales agency LevelK sold the Slovenian family film “Block 5”. Loco Film Paris also confirmed diverse The children's and family film “Akiko – the Flying Monkey” from the German company Veit Helmer has started selling in more than 40 regions and is being shown at children's shows in Locarno, now a major shopping centre in Locarno. The film “A Flower of Mine”, aimed at children and families and dealing with the issue of melting glaciers, has also started selling.
The Locarno Pro will be held from August 7 to 13. The Locarno Festival will start on August 7 and run until August 17.
Deals
*“A Flower of Mine” closed its Locarno screening and has been dealt with Lumière for the Benelux rights, which includes a theatrical release. Praesens-Film has acquired all Swiss rights. The film, managed by Nexo Studios, will be released in Italy from November 25 to 27. Samarcanda Film, Nexo Digital and Harald House are producing the film.
*Playmaker has partnered with UTA to handle sales at Locarno, the SXSW title of the “Sew Torn,” as it is described. diverse “A high-brow crime comedy that combines the rigor of genre fiction with sophisticated fantasy.”
*In some of the first major regional sales announced at the Locarno title, Aislinn Clarke's clever horror film “Fréwaka” has generated big deals in Japan (Hakuhodo DY Music & Pictures Inc.) and Spain (Filmin), ahead of its Locarno premiere.
*Spanish company Mansalva Films has confirmed the participation of actress Alba Flores, Nairobi in the film “Money Heist”, as well as new Spanish Academy Goya Award nominees for actors La Dani and Julio Ho Chen, as part of the main cast of the film “The Shepherdess”.
*Hong Sang-soo's “By the River,” which entered the Locarno main competition, has been acquired by Brooklyn-based Cinema Guild and Finecut.
*MPM Premium has announced sales of the stunning Locarno “Red Path” in France, Belgium and the Middle East and North Africa region.
*New York-based Visit Films has acquired international sales rights to the sci-fi thriller “The Electric Child” from Swiss writer-director Simon Jacquemet.
*Miyu Distribution has selected the Dominican animated film “Olivia & the Clouds” ahead of its screening in Locarno and Ottawa.
*Barcelona-based Cornelius Films is producing “My Uncle’s Movie” from Lantica Studio, starring “Better Call Saul’s” star Steven Bauer and new Dominican actress Maya Otero.
*Dominican producer Cristian Mujica and filmmaker Yoel Morales, behind the SXSW Audience Award-winning “Bionico’s Bachata,” have unveiled a new project titled “The Baker.”
*France's Sinful Films, the producers of Sundance Film Festival's Jury Prize-winning “Animalia,” are preparing to shoot the thriller “Revolution,” set in Beirut.
*Cairo-based distribution and sales company Mad Solutions is handling international rights to Tunisian director Alaa Eddine Slim’s Locarno Film Competition film “Agora,” a mystery drama with supernatural overtones.
*In parallel, the documentary film “The Green Line”, which revolves around the Lebanese civil war and is produced by “MAD World”, a company of “MAD Solutions”, has achieved global sales, competing for the “Golden Leopard” award at the Locarno Festival in the main competition.
*Bendita Film Sales acquired the rights to Lithuania's “Toxic,” about perverted sex practices at a screening school, and then closed sales for another Locarno competition film, “Moon,” about a martial arts fighter on a “disturbing” mission in Jordan.
*MoreThan Films closed the rights deal for “Listen to the Voices,” a memorable take on the splendor and violence of French Guiana, on the eve of the festival, and added Denise Fernandez’s “Hanami,” set in Cape Verde, a few days later.
* Madrid-based Solita Films, the producer of “La Pecera,” has partnered with Locarno’s Match Me! media player Contraria’s divorce drama “March 14.”
*Daria Zhuk, director of the Oscar-nominated Belarusian film “Crystal Swan,” is set to direct “Exactly What It Seems,” a dark, satirical sci-fi thriller about modern tyranny.
*Italian company Fandango has had strong sales of Luce, the Locarno Competition title by Silvia Luzzi and Luca Bellino, which immerses viewers in the world of an obsessed leather factory that wants more from life.
*Sales of the Dominican drama “Beyond the Mist” have begun, with an agreement with distributor Latin Quarter, which also acquired world rights to the transgender documentary “The Beach of the Enchaquirados.”
*Shellac launched worldwide sales in Locarno for a documentary about sexual abuse in the Catholic Church, The Deposit.
*Hugofilm Switzerland is co-producing director Michele Fleury's first feature film, “Pas Ta Maman”, which was developed by Sommerhaus Filmproduktion in Germany and screened at the Locarno Match Me! Film Festival.
