V I D E O • A G E 16 NO V E M B E R/ DE C E M B E R 2 0 0 7 A F M R E V I E W AFM 2007 Figures at a Glance • 8,343 attendees • 1,628 buyers from 65 countries • 430 companies from 30 countries exhibited • 900 screenings of over 537 films in 34 languages • 104 industry world film premieres • 371 market premieres • 16 seminars • Top Ten Buying Contingents: U.S. (316), Japan (230), France (93), Germany (82), U.K. (68), Korea (67), Italy (57), Brazil (52), Turkey (45), Canada and Australia (42 each) • Largest number of buying companies outside the U.S.: Japan (54), France (37), Germany (35), U.K. (30) In addition to the buying and selling, the movie premieres, scattered parties and general screenings in theaters around Santa Monica, the AFM is known for its seminars ( a total of 1 6) and, recently, for its association with the American Film Institute’s AFI Fest, an international film competition. The eight-day AFM, which ended November 7, attracted 8,3 4 3 participants from 65 countries ( compared to 8,208 last year) , especially from Japan, the U.S. and France. Next year’s market dates are November 5-1 2, which means it will once again take place 1 8 days after the end of MIPCOM, just like this year. fact that DVD sales – – the traditional bread-and-butter of the AFM – – are dwindling due to the popularity of downloads ( indeed, as reflected by this Issue’s front cover story about the studios’ digital strategies, the younger generation barely knows DVDs) . It seems that digital media will be the next big thing for the independents. In the U.S. alone, online movies have become a part of everyday life with 73 percent of the online population ( or 1 20 million users) watching online movies/ video streams monthly. However, if digital media represents a big business, as well as big potential for the studios ( Disney’s Bob Iger, for example, estimated that his company’s digital revenues will be about $750 million this year) , traditional business for the indies is still running in analog time, in the sense that from the moment a movie is acquired to the time it appears on international screens takes at least one year. As far as the aforementioned large Asian buying contingent, Tad Omiya of Japan’s TWA estimated the number of his competitors as being similar to last year. In addition, Omiya stated that, for his type of buying, MIPCOM is becoming more important. Indeed, according to Regent’s Gene George, a lot of AFM time is spent following up on MIPCOM sales. And even though the “A” titles are sold before production begins, the fact that the AFM has many premieres, in the opinion of George, still makes it a theatrical market. According to Screen Media Venture’s Almira Malyshev, this AFM was slow because of a strong MIPCOM. Gavin Reardon of … and Action! concurred, saying that “this AFM is very quiet, but I have no understanding of why, except that MIPCOM is getting stronger. And many attendees said that the AFM is driven by a large quantity of microbudget product, but the buyers show a lack of urgency — they all say they’re coming [to the AFM] but don’t commit to meetings.” (Continued from page 14) ...and ac tion! ’s W olf gang W ilk e, Alex ander Sc hust, Su J ing, G av in Reardon CinemaVault’s Stev e Arroyav e, Ruby Rondina, N ic k Stiliadis Pic tured abov e: IF TA’s J ean Prew itt, Lloyd K auf man, J onathan W olf Pic tured lef t: Rigel E ntertainment’s J ohn Laing and Stuart G ordon Pic tured below : the AF M ex tension at the Le M erigot hotel
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