The “minnows” at the Marché du Film

Each year, some 10,000 film professionals gather in search of future box office nuggets. An indispensable stopping point for long-established distributors and cinema owners, the Marché du Film also provides an opportunity for smaller producers to lay out their cinematic wares.

Extracts from their film play constantly on the big screen above their booth. For nearly a week, Niels Dubost et Laurent Ferrari, the Lyon-based producers of Bonjour, je m’appelle Maxime Renard, have been keeping their fingers crossed.

More than once, the two men have seen the doors of film distributors being firmly closed. They put this down to the economic crisis which has also hit the cinema world. “No big names, too difficult to sell”, they’ve been told. So they decided to try their luck at the Marché du Film, so that the fruits of their labour, an 80-minute feature film made on a budget of “Under 500,000 euros”, might finally see the light of day, two years after shooting.

“For small production companies like ours, the life of a film can be severely compromised if there is no deal with a cinema owner from the outset. The system is set up in such a way that you rapidly run into obstacles. When you’re a minnow in the film world, you have to make up for that by coming up with good ideas,” explains Niels Dubost, who produced and plays the leading role in his film.

So far, five professionals have come to check out the Lyon duo’s feature film, including an Indian producer enthused by the film’s message and the prospects of distributing it in his country.

“The negotiations revolve around the rights for one or several countries and for the cinema, TV or DVD markets”, explains Dubost, who says he is perfectly willing to adapt to the requirements of distributors as long as the integrity of his film is maintained.

B.P.

For more on the Marché du Film, read the interview with its director Jérôme Paillard.