Frontières@Fantasia Celebrates Massive Eighth Edition
On Monday morning in Montreal you would not have guessed that a few hundred industry professionals (and some guy with a pen and a notepad) had their way with the city that weekend. But by Monday evening it was even more evident when we entered a near empty Irish Embassy Pub that everyone had dragged their hangovers to the airports and train stations and returned back to civilian life after a rocking market weekend.
I for one always appreciate the opportunity to catch up with our friends who have made this industry their means to an end. We joke that Frontières is like Summer camp for adults but it is always a fun, fun weekend, and it is good to unwind after a long day of pitching, promoting and negotiating.
It also stands as a big learning experience too, watching everyone work their butts off trying to get support for their projects. This year I spent the first two days covering four seperate sessions and did not sit down to watch and of the festival lineup until the early evening shows. But it shows you just how much Frontières has grown over the past four years and shows no signs of stopping as you will read in the press release below.
Our thanks to Lindsay Peters and her wonderful team for putting on a great weekend and including ScreenAnarchy in the festivities.
Montreal, 27 July 2016 – Wrapping a highly successful eighth edition, the Frontières International Co-Production Market concluded on Sunday, July 24, after four days of project pitching, meetings, screenings, and networking sessions with industry leaders from around the world. Over 400 international film industry professionals converged at the Fantasia International Film Festival for this now-established industry event specializing in genre film co-production, financing, and sales.Notable international industry representatives at Fantasia this year included Amazon Studios, Blumhouse Productions, Drafthouse Films, Epic Pictures, Eurimages, Film Republic, Gamechanger Films, The Gersh Agency, ICM Partners, Infinitum Nihil, Magnolia Pictures, Memento Films International, Oscilloscope Laboratories, Paradigm Talent Agency, Mongrel International and Mongrel Media, SpectreVision, and XYZ Films.Frontières@Fantasia 2016 proved to be the market’s most successful edition to date, with a series of major industry announcements taking place over the weekend:-London-based production company/financier Alliance Media Partners (AMP) launched Alliance Media Partners Canada in Toronto, in order to source, produce, and finance projects with Canadian and North American talent.-The Canadian Film Centre’s Media Lab (CFC Media Lab) and Cream 360 (the virtual reality division of Cream Productions) announced the creation of SCREAM 360, a joint initiative to accelerate the best scripted episodic genre VR properties by emerging and seasoned content creators from around the world.-United Front Entertainment (UFE) announced the acquisition of the Canadian digital and home entertainment rights to a slate of features produced by Black Fawn Films and Breakthrough Entertainment.-Frontières Goes to Cannes 2016 selection ARE WE NOT CATS (USA, Dir. Xander Robin, Prod. Theo Brooks and Josh Sobel) was announced as the closing night film for the Venice International Film Festival's Critics Week.“We are beyond thrilled with the developments out of this year’s edition, which have again far exceeded expectations and prove that the Frontières community is only continuing to extend its international reach and influence throughout the film industry at large,” says Market Director Lindsay Peters.Frontières@Fantasia featured 35 projects from across North America, Europe, and beyond including two TV series (HOUSE OF PSYCHOTIC WOMEN and UNTOLD HORROR), as well as spotlights on projects from South Africa and Australia. Notable filmmakers and producers pitching at the market included Roxanne Benjamin, Brandon Cronenberg, Larry Fessenden, Alexandre Franchi, George Mihalka, Brian O’Malley, Andy Starke, and Jenn Wexler. The line-up was rounded out by a Work-in-Progress presentation featuring presentations from past Frontières projects THE DEVIL ON WHEELS, RADIUS, and THE VOID, and a market showcase and pitch session presented by Raven Banner Entertainment.2017 will see further and continued growth for Frontières, with plans to launch The Frontières Finance and Packaging Forum in Amsterdam next February, in collaboration with the Marché du Film-Festival de Cannes and the Netherlands Film Fund, and expanded programming and networking activities for the genre film industry at the Marché du Film-Festival de Cannes in May.
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