By Jesús Silva We talked to Jean Labadie, CEO of France’s Le Pacte, about the particular traits that make the French market “the healthiest in Europe” for independent film distribution. Labadie also opened up about the key role of French distributors in the financing of national films, the impact of their media chronology and…
Independent Films
Interview with Irini Souganidou and Soli Beraha, Managing Director and Head of Acquisition of Feelgood Entertainment, Greece
By Joachim Soudan We met with Irini Souganidou and Soli Beraha to talk about the Greek film market, concentrated in two main cities and dominated by multiplexes. They describe for us their most creative campaigns and tell us about the challenges and consequences of the Covid-19 pandemic, since in Greece, until now, there have…
Interview with Alessandro Giacobbe, Managing Director of Academy Two, Italy
By Jesús Silva Alessandro Giacobbe, Managing Director of Italy’s Academy Two, broke down for us the main challenges for independent distributors in Italy, such as the difficult access to the screens. Cinemas across the country were reopened in mid-June, but when the market was slowly recovering after summer, the government declared a second lockdown…
Interview with Eduardo Escudero, Founder of A Contracorriente Films, Spain
By Jesús Silva We talked to our member Eduardo Escudero, one of the founders of Spanish distributor A Contracorriente Films, about their catalogue, the situation of the Spanish market and the future of the sector after the pandemic. What is your editorial policy? The name A Contracorriente Films (“against the current”) has always been…
Interview with Tom Abell, founder of UK distributor Peccadillo Picture
by Frances Harvey We talked to our member Tom Abell, founder of UK distributor Peccadillo Pictures, about the UK distribution landscape, the company’s upcoming titles, and past successes. How did you start in film distribution? I was originally a videotape editor back in the 80s. I did a lot of work for studios on…
Where’s my film? Availability and visibility of European films on VoD platforms
by Isabella Weber Over the past six years the expansion in Europe of big international VoD players such as Netflix and Amazon has started an irreversible process that is changing – and, according to some, disrupting – the whole film market. While it is true that those consumers who know what they want can…
Mad Solutions to promote arthouse cinema in the Arab world. Interview with Alaa Karkouti
by Isabella Weber Venturing beyond European borders, Europa Distribution is expanding its focus on local independent film distribution to take you, thanks to the help of our member MAD Solutions, on a journey to the Arab countries. MAD: One company, five branches, one hundred projects MAD Solutions was founded in 2010 as a distribution…
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…
Focus on the UK
by Isabella Weber After having lately rediscovered Portugal, the Scandinavian countries and Italy, Europa Distribution continues its tour of Film Distribution’s landscapes and lands today on top of another of the Big Five: the United Kingdom. What are the challenges facing UK distributors today and how are they different from those engaging their European colleagues?…