Visiting the European Film Market is a bit like going out for pot luck in the neighborhood: you never who or precisely what you’ll encounter, you just pray the food is edible and the diners are bearable. Like any market, this one has its fair share of unappetizing and half-baked movies among the over 400 offerings here. But there’s always good stuff too, for those bothering to play hooky from the festival and head down the street to the Market’s grandiose three-story home, past the gold line in the sidewalk that marks the site of the old Berlin Wall.
Like the Festival, I’ve been visiting the Market for over 12 years now, starting back when they both were sandwiched into less spacious digs in old West Berlin
(though I miss the old haunts nonetheless). The mad mix of movies, not to mention the characters selling them, never ceased to amuse me.
I ran into a few such Marketeers yesterday while haunting the halls during a rare off hour. You’ll see one of the highlights in the video here, namely my encounter with one Angela Hawkins, the delightful publications and web editor for the marketing and services end of German Films. Thanks to my friend and occasional shooting scout, the producer Tanja Meding, for always steering me in the right directions.
A final word: I’m leaving for Prague in a few hours, so I won’t be able to show you all the fruits (another food metaphor!) of our Market labors. The others will be up on the site after I return home next week, exhausted but rewarded by a fine week-long Berlinale buffet (and another!)