Brussels International Fantastic Film Festival (BIFFF), which has hosted for three years the co-production market Frontières, will inaugurate this year (13 to 15 April) a new co-production market, the BIF market, the first one in Europe exclusively devoted to fantasy films. Director Romain Roll, during an interview released to Cineuropa, has declared that ” this is a necessary market: not only because there is nothing similar in Europe, but also because interest in fantasy films is increasing”.
Roll added:” within this market, besides classical stands for sellers and buyers, a panel on VFX will be organised, to help Belgian special effects companies gain visibility. We have already reached a hundred participants and roughly 30% of the participating companies come from outside Europe, especially Korea, Japan and United States”.
When asked why this market is so necessary, Roll answered:” Funding a fantasy film is very expensive and funds are hard to secure, also and above all for a wrong perception by the audience: many think fantasy only concerns gore and splatter movies, and they don’t consider that this genre can cover also thriller, horror, noir, science fiction and pure fantasy. Today awareness has risen, thanks also to TV series, towards which a greater openness is needed”. On the relationship with Netflix and Amazon, that are well know for not wishing to collaborate with film festivals, Roll declared:” we should find the way to work together, not only for economic reasons: the audience wants more and more products, together we can offer them what they want”.
