Views
Notes from the Rotterdam Lab Producer Matt Horrocks reports from the 2011 Rotterdam Lab, where independent film is the main event.
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ttendance at the Rotterdam Lab provides a welcome opportunity to overcome the tyranny of distance, albeit briefly, that separates New Zealand film makers from the rest of the world. The internet is a great tool, but when it comes to finding out what’s happening in the international markets and getting to know the people who are making it happen, nothing beats face to face encounters. The Lab provides just this opportunity and it does it well. Running alongside the CineMart market and International Film Festival Rotterdam, the Lab is superbly organised. That’s no surprise – they’re Dutch. However, what’s truly awesome is both the quality of the participants and how well things are set up for them to interact with the people brought in to address them. With a welcome emphasis on roundtables as much as seminars there was plenty of opportunity for questions and discussion. Interested in film festivals? How about talking with Frederic Boyer, artistic director for Cannes Directors Fortnight? International film production? How about Michael Andreen, senior vice president of International Production, Walt Disney Studios International? International sales? How about Susan Wendt, head of sales from TrustNordisk? And so on. The talent in the room each day was phenomenal. Equally stimulating were the fellow attendees. With an average age in the mid-30s these were producers, many of whom have already made internationally successful feature films, and all of whom were at the very least on the cusp of making their first feature. As with CineMart, a great strength of the Lab is its emphasis on independents. In this environment it’s not like Cannes or AFM (American Film Market) where a New Zealand producer is liable to find themselves scratching around the outskirts of the main event. Here, as an independent film maker, you are the main event. The financiers and distributors are
there precisely because they want to talk to people like you. In addition to their gift for low key but highly effective organisation, the Dutch employed another, rather blunt weapon to facilitate communications – alcohol. Attendees were encouraged, forcefully, to drink frequently and to drink deeply. Cocktail parties were held each night and the alcohol was free. Serious hookups – business hookups that is – were made by all three Kiwi producers attending – myself, Karl Zohrab and Tui Ruwhiu. I met potential co-production partners from Russia, the Ukraine, France, Germany and the UK. However, I consider the most useful aspect of the Lab to be the up-to-date snapshot of the state of international film production. Key notes included the fact that film makers in Europe are making films all the time. And not just Europe – countries in North America, South America, and Asia have radically different systems of film financing, but they are systems that enable film makers to make films on a regular basis. One part of the answer is that the films being made tend to be in the €1-€2 million range. This matches what I saw at the AFM in 2009 where US$1 million, and often less, is now considered to be a perfectly viable budget for an independent film. A second part of the answer – in Europe at least – is that the backup that film makers receive from state-sponsored funds and financing structures, from the EU-wide to the national to the regional, are simply on a scale that we can never compete with here. I was impressed with the total commitment to independent film – as in art house, talent driven, idiosyncratic projects – that is so central to the European project. Again this applies not just to the European films. As for New Zealand films – apart from the Australians, I met three people who knew Whale Rider and three who’d seen Boy in Berlin. That surely, is something for us to think about.
Matt Horrocks, Tui Ruwhiu and Karl Zohrab outside De Unie, the Rotterdam Lab venue.
Most inspiring person: Katriel Schory, head of the Israel Film Fund – the story goes that three prime ministers have tried to get rid of him, a good indication of the quality of the man, the proof being the quality of the films coming out of Israel in recent years, including Waltz with Bashir, The Band’s Visit and Lebanon. Most revolutionary person: Jamie King of VODO (peer to peer distributors of independent films – http:// vodo.net) and producer/director of Steal This Film – the king of free-toshare media. The most popular delegation? The Kiwis of course.
The biggest downer: In Rotterdam in February it’s the weather. It’s not far below zero each day but with a heavy fog coming off the sea and the canals it feels much colder. For future attendees I would recommend a course of as much vitamin C as your body can safely handle in the weeks leading up to departure, lest the lurgie strikes you like it struck all of us. • Matt Horrocks, Tui Ruwhiu and Karl Zohrab attended the Rotterdam Lab (Jan 30 to Feb 3 2011) with the assistance of the New Zealand Film Commission. For more information about CineMart and the Rotterdam Lab, visit www.filmfestivalrotterdam. com/professionals/cinemine/
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MARCH 2011
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