Coming up in Cannes

Here's a note of some attractions to diarise if you're going to be in Cannes for this year's Festival (13th to 24th May).

1. The European Audiovisual Observatory will hold its annual workshop and the topic should be close to the hearts of festival-goers (if you don't get paid for it, it is a hobby): "Show me the money! Monitoring film revenues and collecting rightsholders’ money". This workshop will take place on Sunday 17th May from 4pm to 6pm at the Salon des Ambassadeurs (Palais des Festivals); entry is free to all market accreditations.

"Cinema analyst Martin Kanzler will present the Observatory’s 2008 cinema admissions, production figures and market share statistics. The focus will then turn to the legal position of the various rightsholders and the challenges for collecting societies in Europe to act as potential guardian of rightsholders’ income from film exploitation. Susanne Nikoltchev, Head of the Observatory’s Department for Legal Information, will provide the European overview of the rights of authors’ and performing artists and explain their making use of collecting societies in different countries and different contexts. Roberto Olla, Executive Director of Eurimages, will present the funding body’s strategy, introduced at the beginning of this year, of the compulsory use of collection account management for Eurimages funded films. The Head of the Observatory’s Department for Information on Markets and Financing, André Lange, will then look at the various methods of monitoring a film’s success and revenues currently in use. The workshop will end with a panel discussion which will examine future thinking on regulation, business models and contracts in the context of international distribution."

2. The International Chamber of Commerce's 23rd Annual conference will also take place, under the aegis of the ICC Institute of World Business Law, at the Palais des Festivals on the 15th May. The morning session will look at financial risks and solutions in the filmmaking business, with the afternoon dedicated to risks and solutions in the film distribution process.

"Distinguished speakers will include Ted Shapiro, Senior Vice President, General
Counsel and Deputy Managing Director, EMEA, Motion Picture Association European Office; Steve Bersch, President, Sony Pictures World-wide Acquisitions Group (SPWAG), USA; Hal Sadoff, Head of International and Independent Film ICM International Creative Management; Pierre David, Chairman-CEO, Imagination Worldwide, LLC, USA and Jérôme Paillard, Executive Director of the Marché du Film."

For further information, please contact Katharine Bernet, Events Department. Tel: +33 1 49 53 28 91 or email her here.

Posted by Jeremy for Amanda Harcourt