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The European Film Market (EFM), which is held concurrently with the Berlin International Film Festival, is one of the largest film markets in the world, along with North America’s American Film Market (AFM) in Los Angeles and Asia’s Hong Kong International Film & TV Market (FILMART). This year’s edition, which took place February 7th to 15th, included the participation of the Korean Film Council and nine Korean film sales companies (9ers Entertainment, Cinema DAL, CJ Entertainment Inc., FINECUT, Indiestory Inc., Lotte Entertainment, Mirovision Inc., M-Line Distribution and Showbox/Mediaplex Inc.).

 

Leading the fray was CJ Entertainment, which scored many deals with its blockbuster lineup, which includes The Tower, The Berlin File and Snowpiercer. The Tower, the big-budget inferno disaster picture that had its market premiere in Berlin, was sold to the UK, Germany and French-speaking Europe, as well as a number of territories in Southeast Asia. Meanwhile, the special 10th Anniversary movie event for the popular animation character Pororo: The Racing Adventure, which was co-produced with China, clinched deals with Grindhouse for the US, Gulf Film in the Middle East and Brazil’s Playarte.

 

However, CJ’s top-selling film was the highly anticipated BONG Joon-ho sci-fi film film Snowpiercer. The film, on the strength of its international cast (which includes Chris EVANS, John HURT, Tilda SWINTON, Jamie BELL, SONG Kang-ho, Ewen BREMNER and Octavia SPENCER) and the promise of great effects, secured enough deals to cover half of its budget ($20 million).

 

The film will now be handled by Wild Side Films in France, Bitters End and Kadokawa Shoten in Japan, Volga will take of care of the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS), Latin American rights have been snapped by Playarte, Scandinavia by Mislabel, Ablo/Monolith will oversee the film’s release in Poland, the Czech Republic, Romania, Hungary, Ex-Yugoslavia and Bulgaria, Parkit Films took the project for Malaysia and the Philippines, Greece and India went to Tanweer Films, Myndfrom will look after Iceland, the Baltics’ rights were sold to ACME, R Film took it for Turkey, Megastar Media Company bought it for Vietnam and Shani secured Snowpiercer for Israel. The Weinstein Company previously bought the rights during last year’s AFM for English-language markets.

 

Distributor FINECUT also had a lot of success at EFM. HONG Sangsoo’s latest, Nobody’s Daughter Haewon, which was in competition in Berlinale, was sold to Les Acacias for France and by California Filmes for Brazil. Codeks Media bought JEON Kyu-hwan’s The Weight for distribution in Turkey. The concept comedies The Grand Heist and Ghost Sweepers were both taken by Maxam Inc. for Japan and AV-Jet International Media Co Ltd for Taiwan. The KIM Ha-neul starring thriller Blind, actually from 2011, continued to secure sales for the outfit, going to TVB for Hong Kong and Macau, and to ABS-CBN Creative Programs Inc for the Philippines. In addition, ABS-CBN also secured some other titles, including Pieta and Unbowed, for TV broadcast.

 

However, the firm’s top performer was still KIM Ki-duk’s Pieta, which began its enormously successful run by bagging the much-coveted Golden Lion during last fall’s Venice International Film Festival. Swedish, Danish and Icelandic rights went to NonStop Entertainment AB, California Filmes secured the title for Brazil and Latin American pay TV, Mexico was snapped up by Distribucion de Pelicula Zatmeni, Contact Film bought the film for Benelux, Aurora will handle distribution in Poland, Lev Cinemas Ltd. will oversee the film’s release in Israel, Thai rights were secured by M Pictures and MCF Megacom Film bought the controversial film for Ex-Yugoslavia and Albania.

 

These are just some of the deals that took place, but film sales weren’t the only thing happening at EFM. A remake of John H. LEE’s classic melodrama A Moment to Remember (2004), starring JUNG Woo-sung and SON Ye-jin, was also announced. The Hollywood update will star Katherine HEIGL and is to be directed by Ben LEWIN, just off the US awards season contender Sessions.

 

Meanwhile at the Berlinale, there were ten Korean films on show and the week ended with two of them picking awards in the Generation section. SHIN Su-won’s Pluto was awarded a Special Mention in the 14plus section, the runner-up award to the Crystal Bear, and KIM Jung-in’s short Cheong took home the Special Prize for Best Short Film from the Kplus section.