Cannes: Cautious optimism from Nordic Sales agents

Business at the Cannes market was sustained and buyers were more active, even on the pre-buy market, according to Nordic sales agents.

Almost a week after the closing of the Cannes Market, sales companies of Nordic films were still finalising deals, but the mood from sellers was upbeat.

New Europe Film Sales’ whose Cannes flagship title, the Icelandic drama A White White Day starring Ingvar E. Sigurðsson picked-up the Critics Week’s Rising Star Award, experienced non-stop foot traffic at their booth on the Scandinavian Terrace, 55 la Croisette.

The company’s CEO Jan Naszewski said: “It feels like people spoke more about cinema this year and less about the difficulties of the market, and buyers were keen to do business on good films. “ Hlynur Pálmason’s drama A White, White Day was sold to Denmark (Øst for Paradis), Norway (Mer Film), France (Urban Distribution), Australia /New Zealand (Palace), the Baltics (Kino Pavasaris), The Czech Republic/Slovakia (Aero), Switzerland (Xenix), Greece (Weird Wave), with deals pending for the UK, Benelux, Germany/Austria and China.

New Europe Film Sales also attracted buyers’ interest on the Danish hard-hitting drama Sons of Denmark by Ulaa Salim, which was sold to German-speaking territories (Koch Media), Spain (Filmin) and China (Huanxi Media).

New Europe Film Sales’ Norwegian animated film Cattle Hill by Lise I. Osvoll was another hot titles. Sales deals reported to Screendaily include the US (Samuel Goldwyn), France (Septieme Factory), Benelux (Just Film), UK/Ireland (Kaleidoscope), Russia/CIS (Ten Letters), Spain (Pay Com), Greece (Neo Films), Poland (New Horizons), Turkey (Angel Film), South Korea (Company L) and Middle East (Empire Network).

The Yellow Affair’s Head of Sales Steven Bestwick said the Cannes market was “buoyant”, thanks to “the fantastic buzz” around their Directors Fortnight entry Dogs Don’t Wear Pants. “Reactions from buyers and the audience in Cannes was extremely positive. Lots of people shared their thoughts, saying that it is a unique film with fantastic performances from the two leads [Pekka Strang and Krista Kosonen] and of course high praise for J-P Valkeapää’s directing,’ stressed Bestwick, who expects to close deals in the coming weeks.

The company reported high interest on Mika Kaurismäki’s upcoming film Master Cheng, set to open in Finland on September 27, 2019. The film was pre-sold to Switzerland (Frenetic), Israel (New Cinema), Hungary (Cirko), with deals pending for Japan and additional territories.

The company’s latest pick up, the documentary Romantic Comedy by Elizabeth Sankey was acquired by indie distributor 1091 Media for North America, with other deals to close soon.

Reflecting on market trends, Bestwick felt theatrical distributors were still out in numbers, but acting with caution. The sales executive also noticed “an increase in companies focusing more on home entertainment in some of the bigger territories where VOD revenues are a bit higher and where profit can be made with a TV deal.” Overall footfall seems less intense due probably to a cut down on company reps in Cannes, but business was sustained, per Bestwick. 

TrustNordisk reported brisk business, in particular on its Nordic genre films. The Danish adventure-packed folk tale-based Valhalla directed by Fenar Ahmad has been acquired by 26 territories, ahead of its domestic release on October 10, 2019 via Nordisk Film Distribution. Latest territories signed include German-speaking Europe (Koch), the Czech Republic and Slovakia (Foxx New Media), Hungary (ADS), Middle East (Phars), Korea (PoogKyung/Scene & Sound), and Lithuania (Danish Cultural Institute).

The Tunnel by Norwegian director Pål Øie was sold to France (Mediawan), German-speaking territories (Square One), Poland (Telewizja Puls), Japan (IPA), Taiwan (Catchplay), Korea (Activers Entertainment), China (DD Dream), Malaysia/Philippines (CM Holdings), Hong Kong (Sundream), Russia (Capella), Mexico/Latin America (Califorinia Filmes) and Bulgaria (bTV). Nordisk Film will release it in Norway on December 25, 2019.

Meanwhile Lake of Death by Norway’s rising talent Nini Bull Robsahm was pre-bought by ADS Service for Hungary, Virtual Cinema for China, Yuljin Entertainment for Korea and CM Holdings for Southeast Asia. Tye film will open around Halloween in Norway.

Further deals were closed as well on May El-Toukhy’s Sundance award-winning melodrama Queen of Hearts starring Trine Dyrholm. The film was sold to Spain (Festival Films), Portugal (Alambique), Poland (Gutek), Japan (AT), Brazil (Arteplex), Russian/Ukraine/Lithuania (Capella) and Taiwan (Cineplex), on top of previously announced sales to territories including the UK (Thunderbird), Benelux (September Films).

TrustNordisk’s CEO Susan Wendt told nordicfilmandtvnews.com: “Cannes was good and busy and it seems that there is again more willingness for pre-buys, basically from every corner of the world.”

As for LevelK’s CEO Tine Klint, she felt the market was “more focused”, with digital players clearly operating like traditional distributors, although deal-making was still relatively slow like in Berlin.