With Europe hitting peak summer vacation season most the region’s film folk are taking a breather right now before the festival circuit ratchets up and awards season kicks-off in September, but not all…
More than 1,000 industry professionals will be touching down at the Locarno Film Festival this year to participate one way or another in its Locarno Pro program, kicking off on Thursday with the 15th edition of its one-day Stepin think-tank meeting.
Overseen by Locarno Pro director Markus Duffner and project manager Marcello Paolillo, the day of panels and behind-closed-door brainstorming will explore current and future trends impacting the film industry.
The 60 participants set to take part include distributors Andrea Occhipinti (Lucky Red), Jaume Ripoli (Filmin) Eve Gabereau (Vue Lumière) and Ryan Werner (Neon) as well as sales agents Tine Klint (LevelK) and Susan Wendt (TrustNordisk) and producers Margherita Chiti (Palomar), Ed Guiney (Element Pictures), Mike Goodridge (Good Chaos), Christine Vachon (Killer Films), Thorsten Ritter (Weydemann Bros) and Juan De Dios Larraín, who has also recently broken into distribution with the launch of streaming platform Pijama.
Across the previous 14 editions, the meeting has tackled topics such as connecting with young audiences and the evolution of the classic theatrical sales and distribution model. This year it will focus on the impact of algorithms, indie finance and the role of private investors, activism and gender equality.
“This is my sixth year in this role,” says Duffner. “Things are speeding up and It’s changing faster than before. With Stepin, we used to anticipate future trends of the industry, three, four years in advance. Now it’s rather one or two.”
Trends Duffner has witnessed over his tenure include the evolution of the sales agent to embrace co-producing and financing films alongside selling films.
“Right after the pandemic, plenty of companies were closing or merging… we were even questioning if they would continue to exist… over the past three years that has shifted, and now the conversation is about how sales agents are packaging and financing. They play a different role. They have to, to stay alive,” he says.
Locarno Pro has also had to adapt, introducing new initiatives such as the Locarno Investment Community in partnership with Oxberry, the not-for-profit org dedicated to storytellers. The initiative brings around 45 private investors to the festival to interact with the producers and directors in its project and talent incubators Alliance 4 Development, Match Me! and Open Doors which are all gathered under the Locarno Pro umbrella.
“We have an array of some 100 incubated talents that go through our filters every year. It’s important for them to understand that beyond public funds or co-producers there is a growing alternative in private financing in Europe, and not only from North America, even if it’s stronger there,” says Duffner.
Locarno Pro is also laying on two finance focused panels this year.
The first, titled ‘It Takes A Village: Investing in Film Beyond Cinema’, will explore opportunities for ecosystem investment, with speakers including Nicola Ofeogo, who finances and packages African content under the banner of Black Mic Mac; former Neon/Super exec Darcy Heusel, who now works under the banner of her own company Outside, and Samuel Tebandeke, founder of the creator focused fintech platform Kiasi.
In a second panel, moderated by Oxbelly Executive Director Caroline von Kūhn, Arte France Cinéma head Olivier Père, Doha Film Institute head of grants Khalil Benkirane, the Global Screen Fund UK’s Elaine McElroy and Anonymous Content’s David Levine will discuss how they evaluate projects and structure funding. There will also be two panels exploring Switzerland’s track-record as a minority co-producer, and its film fund strands.
Beyond the insider industry discussions, Locarno Pro’s year-round Open Doors project and talent incubator, which is in the second year of a four-year cycle devoted to 42 countries across Africa, will gather 25 participants in person for six days of mentoring and networking.
Highlights among the six projects this year include Chapa 100, about an elderly flower vendor and vegetable seller whose unexpected romance survives deadly odds in a fantastical manner. Mozambique director Ique Langa, whose O Profeta debuted at Rotterdam.
Other buzzy works include Tanzanian director Neema Ngelime’s feminist drama The Ones With The Tempered Flowers about a woman left with conflicted feelings after she is told it is unlikely she will able to bear children.
There will also be a pitching session for the Alliance 4 Development (A4D), aimed at encouraging development cooperation on feature-length projects from Austria, France, Germany, Italy, and Switzerland. The 11-project selection includes upcoming films from Bruce LaBruce, Azerbaijani filmmaker Hilal Baydarova, and Swiss-Egyptian director Tamer Ruggli.
Officially launched in 2018, Locarno Pro’s legacy can be seen throughout this year’s festival selection.
In the international competition, The House on the Moon and Il Cileno are produced by Match Me! Alumnus, while Ann Oren’s Objet A participated in the 2023 edition of Alliance 4 Development.
Other highlights of the talks program include an onstage conversation with U.S. producer Marco Perego-Saldaña, who made waves at Cannes this year as the producer of Palme d’Or winner Fjord, Paper Tiger and Minotaur.
The producer-director announced plans earlier this year for a curated community bannered Artists’ Haven and consisting of world-renowned filmmakers who will gather twice a year at key festivals to help shape and co-invest in the future of independent cinema.
“Along with Luca Guadagnino, they are two producers who manage to work in Hollywood but in a different way… it’s a perfect way to roundup the conversations we hope to have across Stepin,” says Duffner.
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