Jointly organized by UniFrance Films and German Films, this year's Franco-German Film Meetings will be held November 19 and 20 in Leipzig.
Following the French city of Nancy, where the event was held in 2013, this year the German city of Leipzig will play host to the 12th bilateral Film Meetings, which focus on developing and strengthening dialogue and partnerships between movie industries in France and Germany.
This year, the event is based around five debates, punctuated by an evening entitled "Network Workshop," a co-production market, a tribute to the release of Serial (Bad) Weddings in Germany by Neue Visionen Filmverleih and the release of Tarzan in France by Metropolitan Filmexport, as well as the traditional annual gala dinner.
The following themes will be addressed this year:
- A review of movie industry cooperation between France and Germany: new developments and changes (with Peter Dinges from the FFA Filmförderungsanstalt and Frédérique Bredin, president of the CNC (Centre national du cinéma et de l’image animée).
- What financial and technical possibilities do Eastern European countries offer us? (debate focused on developing ties with Poland, Czech Republic, Hungary, and Croatia).
- Broadcast of independent films on television in France and Germany (moderated by the producer Hanneke Marlise Van der Tas).
- The future of independent films in the digital age (moderated by the journalist Sarah Drouhaud from the magazine Le Film Français)
- The distribution of European films in the European Union and in the global market (with the presence, notably, of the filmmaker Costa Gavras and Josef Wurtz, author of the study "Distribution of European Films in the European Union and in the Global Market."
As was the case last year, these Film Meetings will close with a series of "Mentorship Meetings," in which seasoned producers meet with up-and-coming producers to offer their creative and practical advice, with a prerequisite that the young producers have a co-production project currently in development.
