We did it again! After an incredible experience at The Toronto Film Festival back in September, we were excited to participate in another film industry-related event: the American Film Market. An Account Manager at Touch, Sonia Scibor, had the opportunity to attend AFM's 41st edition, and we are eager to share her experience.
We did it again! After an incredible experience at The Toronto Film Festival back in September, we were excited to participate in another film industry-related event: the American Film Market. An Account Manager at Touch, Sonia Scibor, had the opportunity to attend AFM's 41st edition, and we are eager to share her experience.
Despite its name, AFM isn't your typical film festival. No films are selected, there is no competition, and there are no prizes. AFM is actually a marketplace and happens to be a key sales market for the Independent Film Industry along with other markets such as the European Film Market at the Berlin Film Festival. It’s an event where production and distribution deals are made - with more than $1 billion USD in dealings annually. AFM is considered the most efficient film acquisition, development, and networking event in the world.
Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, AFM shifted to an online platform much like that of Cannes' Marche du Film event, conducting its 41st edition 100% online, which took place November 9-13th, 2020.
Attending a virtual event requires balancing regular tasks with an interactive virtual presence at the festival. To best prepare, Sonia collected other members’ festival experiences at other festivals and put together some tips on how to organize herself before and during the festival. “We have a few targets in terms of content markets we want to open the doors for,” Sonia explained. “Our analytics tool “Touch Analytics” gives us hints on what content performs best amongst passengers, and therefore we know which market should be explored further.”
Used to glitzy parties and get-togethers at restaurants, bars, or hotels all over Santa Monica, this year’s edition was, without a doubt, unique. And although no virtual experience can ever fully replace the real experience, this year's event was overall very pleasing. “I was surprised by how well it was organized and how easy the platform was to navigate,” Sonia remarked. She also added that all attendees’ contact information was available on the AFM platform, making it easier to get in touch with each other either during the festival or after. There was also a ‘Networking Pavilion,’ “where attendees could approach anyone who was in the room at the same time as you (with your camera and microphone on),” which made communication quite easy.
AFM turned out to be a great way to network outside of our usual distribution circle. The platform enabled us with the ability to reach out directly to producers and filmmakers. We must all agree with Sonia that “Networking is an investment, and being in touch with different members of the film industry will help us to work on exciting and innovative projects for our clients.”
We believe that this year's edition of AFM represents the future of International Film Industry events, where an online platform brought together people from more than 45 U.S. states and 81 countries, which is more countries than AFM has seen in the last decade. The event was a truly global convergence with a five-day total of 570 exhibitors from 48 countries, 1.487 buyers from 66 countries and, 465 films screening.
For Touch, the event not only opened up new content markets but, it also presented us with the opportunity to show the industry how IFE works, as Sonia said: “During networking sessions, I was very often approached by individuals from the film industry, who have never been in touch with anyone from the Inflight Entertainment segment and were curious to understand how this business works. It is essential to educate the industry about IFE – it is a niche market, but the possibilities for innovative ideas are endless.”
This year's AFM turned out to be an enriching and informative experience, and at Touch, we look forward to more to come. The next event this year that we will be attending is Ventana Sur, a Latin Film Market. But that's not where we plan to stop. We have set our sights on every major worldwide festival so that we can continue to provide our customers with the most uniquely curated content possible. Keep your fingers crossed that next year's events can be resumed in person, where you will have the opportunity to meet us and see what we are doing!
Subscribe our newsletter and receive our latest updates
