the future of Film, January 2012

Club of Amsterdam

pdf version

In collaboration with the Freelance Factory

Supporters

Freelance Factory
India House Amsterdam

Most Hollywood mind confections are cotton candy that reverts back into sugar and coloring as it enters your mouth. What’s missing is any substance that you take away after the movie. There’s no nutrition there. When the movie is over, you’re left with nothing.

We need to take back the powerful media of film – the media should be teaching us valuable lessons about how to survive, keep the earth clean and healthy. There are so many important discussions, new philosophies, concepts, ways to living, so many valuable ways the media could function, instead of focusing only on killing, wealth and excess. Who will teach us how to survive the coming ecological and economic storms?

The one idea that Hollywood movies strive to suppress more than any other is the idea of an egalitarian society. We are constantly reminded of how bad we are, how criminal, how bloody, how deadly.

In a psychological test, 70% of us seem to readjust our brains to believe what a peer group says happened, rather than what we actually witnessed ourselves in real life.

Movies and media dictate people’s consciousness by glorifying the lives of the rich and criminal, simplifying our stratified social order and making the unspeakable norm. Do we accept the rule of the 1% over the 99%?

Thoughts by Dimitri Devyatkin – an American filmmaker, writer that specializes in social documentaries, historical feature films.

Eline Flipse, Independent Motion Pictures and Film Professional
‘What is actually a documentary?’

It sounds simple, but there are some misunderstandings about the meaning of the concept.
Once that is resolved, I will consider its future.
One of the issues: is a documentary a journalistic quest or is it art? Or both?
Eventually it’s a personal view on my own work and my wish for the future

Wendy L. Bernfeld, Founder, Managing Director, Rights Stuff

Wendy Bernfeld will present a short talk on the evolving future of film, from the business and creative perspective. She will outline various new approaches and opportunities regarding producing / distributing / funding films, embracing cross- platform / transmedia via international VOD platforms, brands, tech companies and other new partners, and also via innovative (non traditional) ”windows”. The importance of engaging with audiences long before the film is released eg via online sourcing and social networks, is also discussed.

Paul Breuls, CEO, Corsan NV, Producer & Director
Dialogue about European Dreams

Jonathan Marks talks with Paul Breuls about Corsan – a fully integrated international operating film development, financing, production and sales company headquartered in Antwerp – its international positioning and the challenges involved / the rich culture of Film Festivals / European versus American values in movies / working with Robert de Niro and John Travolta / and about the European Dreams …

19:00 – 20:00
Introduction by our Moderator
Jonathan Marks, Director, Critical Distance

Part I:

Eline Flipse, Independent Motion Pictures and Film Professional

Wendy L. Bernfeld, Founder, Managing Director, Rights Stuff

Paul Breuls, CEO, Corsan NV, Producer & Director
Dialogue about European Dreams

20:00 – 20:30
Coffee break with drinks and snacks.

20:30 – 21:15
Part II:
Open discussion

Eline Flipse
Independent Motion Pictures and Film Professional

Following language studies at the Sorbonne in Paris, Eline Flipse attended the Amsterdam Film Academy from 1974 to 1977. She has since worked as a freelance documentary filmmaker.

Eline: “My work is quite diverse. I’m interested in ‘small’ personal stories where ‘big’ history is always somewhere in the background. Most of my films contain a common thread: how to maintain your dignity in a complex world in which it is sometimes very hard to survive.

My work consists of 25 long documentaries and about 30 short films. It includes portraits of artists, some films about music/musicians and films with a more social issues.”

Her film BROKEN SILENCE, which tells the tales of five young Chinese composers, received an award at Nyon’s Visions du Réel in 1996. Her medium-length film NASHA GAZETA, about a one-man Russian newspaper, brought Flipse the Jury Award at the 2010 Hot Docs Film Festival in Toronto.
www.eliflifilm.com

Wendy L. Bernfeld
Founder, Managing Director, Rights Stuff

Wendy Bernfeld, founder, Rights Stuff BV, is a passionate film buff specialized in hard core content acquisition and distribution, licensing negotiations, and related international strategy and deal advice, for traditional media (film, TV, Pay TV/pay per view, formats) and digital new media (Internet, IPTV, VOD, mobile/handhelds, etc.).

Wendy founded her consulting company “Rights Stuff” in 1999, with offices in Amsterdam and Dublin. For more than a decade, they have specialized in content licensing, focussing primarily on the new media/digital sector. Originally from Montreal, Canada, Wendy has more than 15 year’s experience as an in-house movie buyer/senior exec in traditional Pay TV, Video On Demand, and distribution (including being CEO of Canal+International Acquisitions, MD of Alliance-Atlantis Europe, SVP Acquisitions for The Movie Network (Canada). She has also been an entertainment lawyer and a Law Clerk to the Supreme Court.

Rights Stuff also assists with new digital channel start-ups and channel carriage licensing. Wendy points out that they are not aggregators, but rather a bespoke content licensing ‘nitty gritty’ team, working for both the new platforms and the producers / distributors who want to sell to them. They help producers / distributors with their current and catalogue licensing, but also get involved with original ‘made for web/mobile‘, cross platform and/or ‘transmedia‘ programming, so as to maximize revenues across multiple windows and platforms. The clients have included – Sony Digital, France Telecom/Orange, Canal+, Indiemoviesonline.com, Endemol, IDFA, ABC-Cinemien, Disney Europe, UPC/Chello, Forthnet/Nova, Movielink.com, Joost.com, Viasat, Submarine, Independent Film Channel (IFC) and Pathé.

In December 2010, Wendy was named as one of the “Brave Thinkers of Indie Film, 2010” by Oscar-winning independent producer Ted Hope.
www.rights-stuff.com

Paul Breuls
CEO, Corsan NV, Producer & Director

Paul Breuls is a film director, producer and Chief Executive Officer of Corsan, a fully integrated international operating film development, financing, production and sales company.

Corsan has cast the top American actors Robert De Niro and John Travolta in its new production “Killing Season”.
…
In 1989, Breuls founded the film production and financing company, Corsan NV, with the head office based in Antwerp, Belgium. In 2003, he created the ‘Corsan Tax Fund’, which currently funds all of Corsan’s film productions. Five years later, he added a sales department, ‘Corsan World Sales’, which sells and distributes all their product.

«The Hessen Affair» (2008) was Paul Breuls’ directorial debut and «Meant To Be followed» in 2009. His producers track record includes recently finished Lee Tamahori film THE DEVIL’S DOUBLE, which received a selection for the Sundance and Berlin 2011 International Film Festival, SUITE 16 by Dominic Deruddere, SHADES by Erik Van Looy, and numerous of others.

Breuls received a Master’s Degree in Law at the University of Brussels (VUB), as well as an MBA at the Vlerick-Leuvel-Gent Management School. After a brief academic career, he established himself as a lawyer specializing in finance before moving into the film industry.
www.corsanfilms.com

Jonathan Marks
Director, Critical Distance

Jonathan Marks founded Critical Distance in 2003, following a career in both production and management in traditional broadcasting. Critical Distance has now turned into an international knowledge network and specializes in building cross-media strategies and video story-telling. The goal is the same – to use existing and emerging media platforms to build meaningful conversations in society. Many companies are making more use of video to communicate their ideas and goals. But few companies are able to do this in an engaging way. Critical Distance has developed methods to get this right, both fast and economically. The company is currently active with projects in UK, Kenya, Netherlands, Norway, Finland, USA, Eastern Europe and South-East Asia.

Jonathan will be hosting the evening discussion on the Future of Film. He says it promises to be an interesting evening. “There are huge changes going on in film. For a start, no-one is making film cameras any more, Kodak is on the verge of declaring Chapter 11 bankruptcy and funding for films (especially in Europe) has suffered severely from the recession. However, high quality digital cameras have never been cheaper or higher in resolution, directors and actors are publishing and collaborating through social media platforms (like YouTube and Vimeo) and some of the Crowdfunding experiments for film are delivering on their promises. There is clearly a new breed of documentary makers who understand what involves their audience and how to draw them in. So how are those using video navigating the new possibilities? I hope you’ll join us to find out”
www.criticaldistance.org

Impressions