One month after the start of the Scandinavian on-demand Film Festival in North America, supported by Nordisk Film & TV Fond, Sebastien Perioche, (photo) founder of the on-demand movie channel Eurocinema gives a snapshot of the response from US media and audience. So far, eight titles are available (Limbo, Suddenly, King's Game, Truth about Men, A Family, Dark Horse, Upperdog, Pure) and another four will be downloadable on July 1st (Behind Blue Skies, Dear Alice, Kautokeino Rebellion, Little Soldier). The festival runs until October 31, 2011.

A few words about Eurocinema: what's your current reach and what prompted you to organize this first Scandinavian on demand film festival?
Eurocinema is an on demand TV channel reaching 36 million homes in the US and Canada. When Hanne Palmquist approached us with the desire of showing Scandinavian films in the US I thought it would be a good idea to create a Scandinavian festival available On Demand on Eurocinema.

The festival was launched on May 1st. How was the event marketed and promoted in the US and Canada?
It was promoted via ads on IFC, Sundance, AMC, A&E and others TV networks dedicated to art, culture and foreign films. We also did advertising via online websites and newsletters such as Urban Daddy, Flavorpill, 944, voice media, ondemand weekly, Cinemawithoutborders. We're also actively promoting the event on social media like Twitter and Facebook. For instance we organised a competition on Facebook whereby viewers could win a DVD collection of the 12 films from the Scandinavian Film Festival. 122 people participated and the winner was announced on June 6. We're planning to organise another competition offering a trip to Copenhagen. Hopefully this will attract more people.

Did you manage to get sponsors or local partners?
No, not so far but we're getting some promotional help from cable operators Charter cable and Verizon.

What has been the response so far, both from the media and from US audiences?
The media response has been really good. The event was covered extensively across various online and trade publications such as Cinemawithoutborders, Ondemandweekly, The examiner.com, Variety and Screendaily. We've had interviews with Lena Enquist and Michael Nyqvist on FilmWax. The US audience seems very enthusiastic. We are starting to get feedback and comments on social media which is very encouraging.

What film in particular is the most sought after?
So far, I would say Limbo and Suddenly.

Another four films will be available on July 1. Again, what promotional actions will you put together to get the buzz going on them?
We will continue along the same line, which is a mix of TV, online advertising, editorial and social media. For instance we will run a TV commercial about the festival on different TV networks across the US. We usually run them prime time, on week-ends which is when we get the most customers. We will continue to place banners on various websites, and insert about the Scandinavian festival into local events guides like Flavorpill, Urban Daddy, Village voice, 944.com, etc...