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MIFF 37South Market to send three producers to London

MELBOURNE: MIFF 37ºSouth Market, the film co-financing event during the opening days of the Melbourne International Film Festival (MIFF), closed its seventh edition with the announcement of the producers who were awarded the MIFF 37ºSouth Market Alliance places at the UK’s Production Finance Market (PFM).

MIFF 37ºSouth Market is the exclusive Australia/NZ partner of the prestigious London Production Finance Market (PFM). Under this alliance, the only three guaranteed Australia/NZ PFM places are reserved for producers attending MIFF 37ºSouth Market. Selection for the three 37ºSouth places at PFM is guided by the votes of international financiers/buyers at MIFF 37ºSouth Market.

Thanks to Gold Sponsor Film Finances, for the second year running one of the three producers selected for the October PFM received a flight voucher of A$2,000 towards their trip. The producer winning the PFM place and flight coupon was Tim Sanders from New Zealand. The other two producers to win places at the PFM were Leanne Tonkes and David Parker from Victoria.

MIFF 37ºSouth Market, Australia’s only film co-financing market to be held at a film festival, this year hosted a record 50 film financiers/buyers including A24, Altitude, Atlas, Bankside, EFIC, eOne, Exchange, Exclusive, Fulcrum, Global Screen, HanWay, Highpoint, Hopscotch, Inception, MovieHouse, Level K, Picture Tree, Protagonist, Relativity, Roadshow, Senator, Shoreline, Transmission, Voltage and XYZ. Meantime, a record 22 publishers attended 37ºSouth’s Books at MIFF, including Allen & Unwin, Curtis Brown, Penguin, Hardie Grant, Random House and Text.

The companies met with Australia/NZ producers including Lizzette Atkins (Aim High In Creation!), John Barnett (Whale Rider), Phillippa Campbell (Top of the Lake), Pip Campey (Galore), Robert Connolly (Tim Winton’s The Turning), Catherine Fitzgerald (The Orator), Tony Ginnane (Patrick), Jamie Hilton (Sleeping Beauty), Liz Kearney (These Final Hours), Robin Laing (Vintner’s Luck), Helen Leake (Wolf Creek 2), Angela Littlejohn (Separation City), Marian Macgowan (Death Defying Acts), David Parker (Matching Jack), Brian Rosen (Around the Block), Tim Sanders (Perfect Creature, Lord of the Rings), Vincent Sheehan (The Hunter) and Leanne Tonkes (My Mistress).

All told, scheduled one-to-one meetings across the market’s strands (which include 37ºSouth: Bridging the Gap, 37ºSouth: PostScript&Direct, and 37ºSouth’s Books at MIFF) increased 7% to 2,156 from last year’s total of 1,542 and were more than six times 2007’s tally. Across the seven editions of the market, more than 9,300 meetings have been scheduled.

Additionally, the financiers/buyers viewed completed new Australian/NZ films seeking distribution and/or sales agents at the 37ºSouth: Breakthru Screenings, including Fantail, The Infinite Man, The Dead Speak Back, Ukraine is not a brothel, One Eyed Girl, Nerve Lygon Street – Si Parla Italiano and The Legend Maker, while the MIFF 37ºSouth: State of Play panel sessions included an In Conversation events with producer/director Robert Connolly and a Special Address by outgoing Screen Australia CEO Dr Ruth Harley.

While MIFF 37ºSouth Market itself has concluded, MIFF 37ºSouth Market is co-hosting a range of ticketed events open to the general public during the remaining days of MIFF 2013.

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