Copyright AFM
The 2014 American Film Market (AFM) wrapped its 35th edition today after 7,946 attendees visited the Loews Hotel in Santa Monica for the eight day market.
The AFM again was host to a truly global market, with 1,670 buyers coming from over 70 different countries. Of the 794 registered buyer companies, 90 were new to the AFM. The market saw a 3% increase and an uptick in overall buyers from last year, with a notable growth in buyers from Latin America (up 34%) and Asia (up 8%). Overall exhibitor attendance was up 1% from last year with 2,825 executives from exhibiting companies from over 40 countries, with the largest number of exhibitors coming from the United Kingdom, France and Japan, after the USA.
Overall industry attendees, the non-buyers and sellers that include Attorneys, Bankers, Festivals, Film Commissions, Filmmakers, Financiers, Post Production Facilities, Producers, Studio Facilities, and Writers finished at 2,624, up 1% from last year’s numbers. The repetition of strong attendance reflects the AFM’s expanded programs for production community including the Conference Series, Roundtables, Conversations, and Producers Forums. The AFM screened 432 films with 352 Market Premieres, 85 World Premieres and a total of 654 screenings across the AFM Campus in Santa Monica.
The popular five-day AFM Conference Series showcasing sessions on Financing, Pitching, Production, Marketing and Distribution featured global industry leaders including: Brett Ratner (producer), Cassian Elwes (Independent Producer), Tobin Ambrust (Exclusive), Mark Damon (Foresight Unlimited), Mark Gill (Millennium), Rena Ronson (UTA), Emanuel Nunez (Paradigm), Russell Schwartz (Relativity), John Sloss (Cinetic), and Nicolas Gonda (Tugg). The AFM Conference Series, which launched four years ago, hosted international audiences of more than 700 daily.
The second year of the AFM Producers Forum brought together experienced producers from around the world, to learn and network at the AFM. The 16 forum sessions touched on a wide range of topics from working with sales agents to digital delivery to the future of independent film financing, led by experts including: Ben Browning and Aaron Ryder (FilmNation), Stephan Paternot (Slated Inc), producers Ted Hope and Clark Peterson, and Clay Epstein (Arclight Films).
This year’s Roundtables and Conversations featured notable industry elites including Wei Han (Bliss Media), filmmaker and comedian Adam Carolla, Meyer Schwarzstein (Brainstorm Media), Caroline Stern (Kaleidoscope Film Distribution), and many more.
