Berlinale Co-Production Market: Submit New Feature Film Projects Now and Find International Partners

Until October 27, 2011, experienced producers from around the world who are looking for international co-production and financing partners can submit their new feature film projects to the 9th Berlinale Co-Production Market.
The Berlinale’s “matchmaking” market is again looking for new promising projects that have budgets between two and ten million euros, are suited for international co-production and have at least 30% of their funding in place.

Approximately 30 projects will be selected. At the 9th Berlinale Co-Production Market (February 12-14, 2012), their producers will then meet with interested potential co-producers, film financiers, sales agents, distributors, TV broadcasters and funders.
A few weeks before the festival, all registered participants will receive more detailed information about these projects in a catalogue and can then request one-on-one meetings with their favourites. What is extraordinary about the matchmaking at the Berlinale Co-Production Market is its efficiency. The team understands how busy the ca. 450 participants are during the Berlinale. Hence the emphasis is not primarily on the number of meetings, but on bringing together partners that are well suited to each other, and on arranging a personalised meeting schedule that allows participants to fit in their other Berlinale appointments and activities.

In this way, it has been possible to establish hundreds of successful connections in the past years: over 120 Berlinale Co-Production Market feature film projects have been realised since 2004. In other words, more than 40% of the projects have been completed, and presented at international festivals and cinemas to date.

This includes international hits, such as Sergei Bodrov’s Mongol, which was nominated for an Academy Award; and Marco Kreuzpaintner’s Krabat, a major hit with German audiences. Lemon Tree by Eran Riklis, which was shown in the Berlinale Panorama, has since been screened in over 20 countries. And a more recent example: Land of Oblivion, Michale Boganim’s French-German-Polish co-production, just celebrated its premiere at Critics’ Week in Venice. Other films that have been presented at international A-list film festivals in 2011 include HaDikduk HaPnim (Intimate Grammar) by Nir Bergman, Las Malas Intenciones (The Bad Intentions) by Rosario García-Montero, Lo Roim Alaich (Invisible) by Michal Aviad and Man at Sea by Constantine Giannaris. All four films were Berlinale picks. Andrey Zvyagintsev’s Elena, Bakur Bakuradze’s Hunter and Leïla Kilani’s On the Plank all screened in Cannes.

The Berlinale Co-Production Market is part of the European Film Market. Main partners of the Berlinale Co-Production Market are the MDM – Mitteldeutsche Medienförderung (since 2004) und the MEDIA-Programme of the European Union (since 2005).

Application forms and selection criteria for submitting projects in 2012 are available here:
http://www.efm-berlinale.de/en/copromarket/participation/project_submission/project-submission.php