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Guy Delmote • General delegate, BIFFF

“Genre films are what work best in theatres, but also on VoD”

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- On the eve of the first European edition of the Frontières co-production market, Cineuropa met Guy Delmote, general delegate of the BIFFF

Guy Delmote  • General delegate, BIFFF

On the eve of the 32nd edition of the Brussels International Fantastic Film Festival (BIFFF), which will be hosting the first European edition of the Frontières co-production market, Cineuropa met Guy Delmote, general delegate of the BIFFF, to touch on the professional expansion of the festival and the genre-film industry.

Cineuropa: The Brussels Fantastic Film Festival has been around for over 30 years. Why have you waited all this time to create a market?
Guy Delmote: Above all, it’s a question of budget on one hand and human resources on the other. We have always been interested in production and in the genre-film industry, but since 2013, we have finally had a venue available with several halls that allow us to have a number of programmes and a more professional space. The chance to have a co-production market was put forward to us by Fantasia, an outfit that is used to this type of set-up, which is too complicated for us to put in place ourselves. We see it as a way to develop the festival, but we are taking part mainly as the hosts of Frontières. We are not involved in selecting projects. 

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What is the most important aspect of these three days that the co-production market lasts?
The cornerstone is the pitching sessions for the projects selected by the experts. Then, the team from Frontières Montreal is organising meetings so as to put the most relevant professionals in touch with each other for work purposes. These meetings are aimed at creating co-productions between Europe and the Americans. 

Is it this European dimension that differentiates Frontières Brussels from Frontières Montreal?
It is the first genre-film market on European soil. Consequently, European demand has been fairly substantial, and it became apparent straight away. We had to take it into account in the presented projects that were actually selected on the basis of collaboration coming from Europe or being provided to Europe. It’s about opening up territories and offering independent producers the opportunities that are normally reserved for the big studios within the sphere of genre films. 

How would you define genre film, the category of film that is being targeted by the festival and the market?
For us, fantastic films aren’t only horror films. It’s more about Hitchcockian trends in cinema. Naturally, we include horror movies in this genre, but also giallo films, surrealist films, science fiction, the outlandish or weird worlds that are sometimes developed in movies, and lastly the thriller category, which allows us to explain to the audience and to the professionals that we are looking for a style stemming from the one that Hitchcock created, a style that has followed in his footsteps. In Europe, we can better understand this idea harnessed by a great many creators such as Buñuel or Cocteau, but for the Americans, genre is often reduced down to horror, with the myriad zombie films or successful slasher series like Friday the 13th, The Texas Chainsaw Massacre and so on. What’s for sure is that genre films are what work best at the movie-theatre box office, but also on VoD. You can’t talk about niche films any more today. 

The Brussels Fantastic Film Festival has a reputation for its highly charged atmosphere among the audience. Is this atmosphere compatible with the working environment offered by Frontières?
That’s exactly what we’re betting on. We won’t be messing with the unique atmosphere of the BIFFF, which rages from 6pm until 4 in the morning; rather, this festive setting enables us to make just as unique an offer to the professionals, whom we tell: “Come and work during the day, and have a great time with your audience in the evening!”


BIFFF 2013

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(Translated from French)

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