FUTURE LEADERS SALES & DISTRIBUTION
Nathalie Jeung
Nathalie Jeung ■ International sales ■ Le Pacte (Fr) ■ n.jeung@le-pacte.com
Nathalie Jeung joined Le Pacte as a sales assistant, having obtained an advanced masters in cinema, television and new media from Pantheon-Sorbonne University. “Jean Labadie had just launched Le Pacte [in 2007]. I’ve been there from the beginning,” says Jeung. The international sales team made its first outing at Cannes in 2008 with the documentary Young At Heart and Francois Ozon’s Ricky. Jeung became sales executive in 2010 and sells to Asia, eastern Europe, Scandinavia, Spain, Portugal and Australia, reporting to head of sales Camille Neel. A literature graduate with a passion for the work of Guy de Maupassant, Jeung says it was a life-long love of cinema that drew her to the industry. “I’ve been a cinema lover since always and that’s all that matters,” she says. “You have to believe in what you do and keep your integrity but try not to take yourself too seriously either.” She cites Labadie, Memento Film International’s Nicholas Kaiser and Sebastien Chesneau of Rezo as mentors for “their talent, vision, passion and great sense of humour”. She interned for Kaiser and Chesneau at Rezo in 2007. Looking to future career moves, Jeung says: “For the moment, I really like what I’m doing. I guess sales could eventually lead to production and the desire to be more involved from the start of a project.”
learned to do deals,” says Joo, who is now in charge of Asian sales. She adds that her previous job pitching and setting up international university exchange programmes gave her a boost in presentation and marketing skills for sales, as well as in co-ordinating festival attendance with directors. “Not once have I thought the work was tedious or anything I didn’t want to do. Introducing Korean films overseas, getting them distributed and released, promoting Korea’s profile that way, is something I find fulfilling,” she says. Joo says she has learned a lot from M-Line CEO Michelle Son. “No matter what difficulties or stress you experience, you cope, communicate and find a balance so you can maintain good relationships. Fundamentally, it helps later when you’re selling different films,” she says.
Natalie Kampelmacher
Relationships matter, especially in a sector subject to the slings and arrows of current affairs. “We often forget how intertwined world events and politics are, and how they can change the climate of our business, sometimes overnight.”
Mette-Marie Katz ■ Manager of sales
Natalie Kampelmacher ■ Director, sales ■ Seville International (Can) ■ nkampelmacher@filmsseville.com
Five years before she joined eOne Films International, Natalie Kampelmacher started at Cinemavault where her employer threw her into the proving grounds of Cannes. “I’ve been lucky enough to have stayed within international sales since graduating university,” she says. “I’ve built relationships with distributors who I’m proud to call friends.” Kampelmacher owes a debt to “some very talented, intelligent women along the way”. They include the “icon” and former executive vice-president of eOne Films International, Charlotte Mickie. “Her taste for high-quality films and her nose for breakout gems is unparalleled.” Having hopped over to eOne’s boutique sales division Seville International, Kampelmacher is now working with vice-president of international sales Anick Poirier. “Her passion for clients, and the love they show her is enviable.”
Rachel Joo
■ XYZ Films (US) ■ mettemarie@xyzfilms.com
As routes to the business of film go, they don’t come much more circuitous than Mette-Marie Katz’s path. “Journalism, entertainment and film PR, and here’s the curve ball, contemporary dance and ballet,” she laughs. By her mid-20s the Danish executive decided it was time to choose a path. After graduating from the University of Copenhagen with a major in English and minor in film and TV, Katz worked on her husband EL Katz’s films before landing an internship at XYZ Films in Los
Mette-Marie Katz
Angeles. She was hired as a sales co-ordinator and moved up to manager of sales. Everyone at XYZ is a mentor and Nate Bolotin, a founding partner and head of sales, has taught Katz “how to keep a million balls in the air at once with both grace and confidence”. Katz relishes the daily demands of the job as she analyses the impact of digital distribution and uses her multilingual global perspective to build relationships and champion films such as The Raid 2. And her dance background is never far from her thoughts. “I understand the life of an artist and the art of storytelling, which makes me a strong advocate for a film-maker’s passion project,” she says.
Emico Kawai ■ International sales ■ Nikkatsu Corporation (Jap) ■ kawai@nikkatsu.co.jp
Japanese corporate employee rotation means dealing with people who may suddenly disappear elsewhere. In the case of Nikkatsu’s Emico Kawai, she has parlayed the skills gained in her previous positions at the legendary studio into a unique sales career that is here to stay. Kawai started interning at Desperado in 2006, where she met an important mentor in producer Yuji Ishida (Unforgiven, Confessions). “I learned all the basics about the film business from Mr Ishida,” she says. Through Ishida’s introduction, Kawai joined Nikkatsu in 2009. She first worked in domestic publicity and then production. Under veteran producer Yoshinori Chiba (Killers, Yatterman) Kawai was part of the team that set up the wild Sushi Typhoon genre label (Alien vs Ninja, Cold Fish). “Although I was in production, I also handled overseas PR and North American distribution deals for the Sushi Typhoon titles, working with my bosses Aki Sugihara and Tommy Tomita.” Kawai welcomes the challenge of working in an industry that can no longer survive on selling standard Japanese movies. “Rather than just selling films, I’d like to develop films with foreign partners in the future,” she says.
■ Sales manager ■ M-line Distribution (S Kor) ■ Rachel@mline-distribution.com
Rachel Joo left a job at Konkuk University’s international affairs department to pursue a career inspired by her love of films, starting at M-Line Distribution in 2010. “At first I didn’t know anything, so I started by learning materials shipping, and was the festival co-ordinator, and
46 Screen International May 15, 2014
Rachel Joo
Emico Kawai
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