Ukraine’s FILM.UA Group is toasting a successful American Film Market showing, with more distribution deals secured for its headliner animated feature The Stolen Princess and significant interest generated by the early-stages AFM introduction of Mavka. The Forest Song.
The market was especially productive for The Stolen Princess, which had a work-in-progress screening on Nov. 4 and swiftly sold to Germany, Austria, Switzerland, Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia and China, as well as the MENA region. The film had already been presold to South Korea, France and French-speaking Europe & Africa, Poland, Bulgaria, Iran and Israel during previous content markets.
“The screening was attended by 40 guests, including buyers and major animation studios representatives. All the deals with the abovementioned territories were struck after the screening; 10 more territories are in the negotiation process,” says Evgeny Drachov, international sales manager at FILM.UA Group. “We understood that even such work-in-progress screenings are a necessary part for the projects’ international promotion campaign, and we plan to keep using this instrument at the future markets,”
Mavka. The Forest Song received its AFM debut this year, with FILM.UA Group presenting development sketches, WIP video and a brand new poster, bearing an attention-grabbing image of an ethereal “forest princess.” The early buzz about the film a MIPCOM was repeated Stateside, attracting potential co-production partners (now under discussion) and piquing buyers’ interests.
FILM.UA Group’s next stop will be the European Film Market, taking place alongside Berlinale Feb. 9-17, 2017.
