14/01/2014 - The European Film Market (EFM) is going to provide new services and networking platforms

With the kick off the European Film Market (EFM) and the opening of the 64th Berlin International Film Festival on February 6, the dealing and wheeling will begin in Berlin. As one of the most important platforms for the international film industry, the exhibition spaces at Martin-Gropius-Bau and the Marriott Hotel on Potsdamer Platz are fully booked. “Our most important goal is to provide EFM participants from all over the world with an ideal framework for their business dealings,” states EFM director Beki Probst. “The fact that our exhibition spaces are again in consistently high demand this year validates our efforts.”

The most spectacular improvement is the move to the recently refurbished Zoo Palast, which combines deluxe cinema design and state-of-the-art cinema technology. The Zoo Palast will provide 5 of the 39 EFM venues. In two Zoo Palast screening rooms the sales companies can also present screenings in 3D. The new cinema complex stands in for the Cubix at Alexanderplatz. The EFM will provide a shuttle service to the new cinema location.

On the second Thursday (February 13) of the Berlinale, the EFM participants can attend Catch-Up Screenings of selected festival films which are put together by the different section heads. Another new initiative is the “Berlinale Talents Market Hub” which brings ten selected distribution professionals from Berlinale Talents to the Martin-Gropius-Bau where they run their own booth. New projects from upcoming filmmakers of the Berlinale Talents Project Labs will also be presented at the EFM.

Further initiatives at the Martin-Gropius-Bau include the “American Independents in Berlin”, organized by the Independent Filmmaker Project (IFP) and the Sundance Institute, the EFM programme “Meet the Docs” with various panel discussions and networking events as well as the EFM series “German Cinema LOLA@Berlinale” that presents German cinema highlights from 2013 at the Zoo Palast. New trends and themes in the international industry will be discussed at the EFM Industry Debates that brings together three rounds of different experts.