BUSIEST YEAR EVER FOR THE IRISH CANNES PAVILION
The Irish Pavilion at the Cannes film festival was the busiest it has ever been this year with over 250 film industry personnel signed up as members.The Pavilion, which was sponsored by Ardmore Studios, Avica, Halo Communications & Magma Films and supported by Philip Lee Solicitors, continued to provide essential services to the Irish film industry. Producer networking events organised by the Pavilion included the Welcomes drinks for members (where guests included Neil Jordan and Cillian Murphy), an Australian/New Zealand/ Irish co-production reception attended by over 200 producers, and a Celtic Reception focusing on Scottish, Welsh and Irish producers and funders.
Pavilion sponsor Avica Technology Corporation, hosted an event to provide details of the opening of a European arm of its digital projection venture, while Media Desk Ireland & Media Antenna held a reception to welcome the new EU member states.
Market Screenings of Irish films in Cannes included Cowboys & Angels, Timbuktu, Headrush, Blind Flight, Dead Bodies, The Honeymooners, Dead Bodies. Dead Bodies was picked up in a large number of territories including Germany, Australia, Israel, Thailand with an American sales deal in the final stages of negotiation with sales agent High Point Films. Deals are currently being negotiated for Cowboys & Angels in the following Denmark, Norway, Finland, Sweden, Iceland, Germany and France by sales agent Media Luna.
Just some of the meetings taken by BSE/IFB executives at Cannes included: NIFTC, South Australian Film Corporation, UIP, Film Victoria, Park Entertainment, Film Finance Corporation of Australia, ArcLight Films, Baker Street, Pathe, European Film Promotion, Seville Pictures, Tartan, Ingenious, Invicta, Swipe Films, LionsGate, Scottish Screen, Sgrin Wales, Myriad Pictures, Japan Film Commission, AFCI, UK Film Council, Morgan Creek, Invest Iceland, Fortissimo, HighPoint, Bank of Ireland, Toronto Film Festival, The Works, Kathy Morgan Int’l, NewMarket, Luxembourg Film Fund, NZ Trade & Enterprise, NZFC, NSWFTO, Malta Film Commission, Celluloid Dreams, ACE, CineFinance, NonStop, Eclipse/Verve, Beyond, Portman, Icon, MovieHouse, Eurimages, BBC Films, Isle of Man Film Commission, Media Luna, Film 4, TeleFilm Canada, International Film Guarantors, MEDIA, Renaissance, Sharmill Films, Capitol Films, Fandango, Odyssey, Optimum, Hamburg Film Fund, Great British Films, Future Films, Arte, Zentropa and FFA Germany.
The Cannes meeting of the European Film Agency Director network, of which BSE/IFB is a member, issued a strong statement of support for the next round of the European MEDIA program, which is presently under consideration by European ministers.
The Irish Pavilion in 2004 was sponsored by Ardmore Studios, Avica Technology Corporation, Halo Communications & Magma Films and supported by Philip Lee Solicitors.