Matthjis Wouter Knol – European Film Market #Berlinale

PODCAST | Chiara Nicoletti interviews Matthjis Wouter Knol, director of the EFM – European Film Market.

Three is the magic number and we can sense that by looking at the 2017 edition of the European Film Market as it’s the third year Mathijs Wouter Knol is directing the EFM. The EFM has always been a very active and useful film market but there’s a special energy surrounding it this year, in termos of innovation and new ideas. IT’s “the film industry of the future” to be one of the new initiatives at the Martin Gropious Bau’s headquarters as EFM Horizon presented by Audi will be presented. The main topics will be Virtual Reality, Computer Games, Startups and New Technologies. Last year the EFM decided to focus its attention on Korea as a very important country to explore in terms of production, co-production and distribution possibilities. This test on a country transformed into a new programme, Country in Focus, that is conceived to give the film industry and filmmakers of a country the opportunity to introduce themselves in greater depth and highlight certain aspects. Mexico is not the only country to attract the EFM’s attention. A new platform for innovation and technology will be introduced,the Berlinale Africa Hub and among the Industry Debates, one is dedicated to the Arab world: New Prospects: Challenges and Opportunities in the Arab Film Industry. Drama series continues so that now all the panel discussions and market screenings, which are offered by the European Film Market, will be set a in a new exclusive venue,Berlin’s legendary Zoo Palast cinema.

Every year more than 3,800 media representatives from over 80 countries converge on the Berlin International Film Festival, making the Berlinale one of the biggest media events in the film industry’s calendar. The European Film Market is the business centre of the Festival and one of the top international film markets in the world. Attended by over 8,300 international industry professionals including almost 1,500 buyers and more than 480 exhibitors, the EFM is where the film world looks for business news during the Berlinale.

European Film Market website here.