As the Berlinale trundles on, the usual joie de vivre of a pre-pandemic film festival is in short supply, and dealmaking out of the virtualSony’s $60 million deal for Tom Hanks’ “A Man Called Otto,” an adaptation of Fredrik Backman’s bestselling Swedish-language novel “A Man Called Ove” — which was made into an Oscar-nominated Swedish feature — grabbed headlines early on , but hasn’t necessarily spawned the usual flurry of deals from Berlin halfway through the festival.
But that’s not to say deals aren’t quietly bubbling away, particularly for smaller-scale market packages, as well as gems from the festival’s aggressively independent line-up. Making it worth their while was Italian film promotional entity Cinecittà, which provided flights and accommodation for more than 30 international buyers who, besides seeing a batch of new Italian movies at the fest, also had the opportunity to check out other official selection titles on the big screen.
Carole Baraton, co-founder of Charades, spent a few days in Berlin before returning to Paris, and packed her days with meetings with arthouse distributors from the continent. “They didn’t come in big numbers and didn’t stay as long as usual but they turned up and it was great to see them in person,” Baraton said.
Over at Anton Capital, Cecile Gaget, who runs international production and distribution, said EFM buyers have flocked to the banner’s hot new package, “All Fun and Games,” a horror thriller starring Asa Butterfield and Natalia Dyer .