AFI festival raises profile

Director Mennan Yapo couldn’t be more pleased -- or more nervous.

His new German-language thriller, “Soundless,” from the producers of “Run Lola Run,” will screen at the ArcLight Cinemas in Hollywood on Tuesday as part of the 18th annual AFI Los Angeles International Film Festival. But behind the scenes, another drama will be playing out in Santa Monica, where the filmmakers will be entertaining offers on U.S. distribution rights to the suspense-filled story about a professional hit man who makes the mistake of falling in love.

Mixing art and business -- that unusual combination of red carpet premieres set against the screening of serious films and the sale of both highbrow and lowbrow fare alike -- has long permeated major festivals such as Cannes, Venice and Berlin.

It’s finally coming to Los Angeles.

The Independent Film & Television Alliance is aligning its American Film Market with AFI’s festival -- for the first time bringing together the wine-and-brie cineastes who annually flock to AFI Fest for its eclectic assortment of art house and international fare, and the tough-fisted film buyers who trek to Santa Monica’s Loews Hotel each year from as far away as Russia, Turkey, Iceland and South Korea with checkbooks at the ready.

The festival begins today and runs through Nov. 14, while the market, which began Wednesday, runs through Nov. 10.

Christian Gaines, the Belgium-born, British-prep-school-educated director of AFI Fest, has seen a steady growth in the festival since he took the helm a little more than four years ago.

“We’ve created the first festival with a market structure in North America,” Gaines said. “For exhibitors and buyers, there are a lot of advantages to this. There are 38 feature film titles playing at both the film festival and the film market. This allows sellers to invite possible buyers to consumer screenings to gauge audience reactions.”

Every filmmaker, he noted, can roam the film market in Santa Monica by day and make connections with potential buyers, then take a festival-provided shuttle to Hollywood that evening to attend the festival screenings.

“It’s resulted in an enormous response to coming to the film festival,” he said, noting that 7,000 buyers will be in town for AFM. The decision by the Independent Film & Television Alliance was a strategic one. They were previously planning to hold their market in late February/early March -- but realized it was too close to the Cannes Film Festival, which is held each May. In addition, the market was held during Academy Award season, a time of the year when Hollywood is largely focused on Oscar campaigns.

“I think it’s a very smart move to put them together,” Yapo said of the AFI-AFM alliance. “As a filmmaker, the audience is always there and, hopefully, they will like and accept your film. But you can also tell a buyer -- provided you are sure of your film -- ‘Go see it with a crowd and see how they react.’ ”

Over the years, many have questioned L.A.’s ability to successfully host a film festival. The terrain is so spread out, traffic is often gridlocked and having the film industry in L.A.’s backyard can leave people jaded about movies.

But AFI director and CEO Jean Picker Firstenberg said moving the festival to the ArcLight in recent years has proven to be a boon because it allows people to gather in the festival’s “cinema village,” creating more of a festival feeling. “Over the years, we’ve been at so many locations and, as a result, the festival didn’t seem to have a heart,” she said. “To me, it [now] has a heart.”

The AFI festival has also grown in importance for some companies that see it as a perfect vehicle to launch their Academy Award campaigns. This year, for instance, several Oscar hopefuls will be premiered at the festival, including Sony Pictures Classics’ “House of Flying Daggers,” Lions Gate Films’ “Beyond the Sea,” MGM’s “Hotel Rwanda,” Fine Line Features’ “The Sea Inside,” and Warner Independent Pictures’ “A Very Long Engagement.”

Meanwhile, some distributors think that the AFM’s change in date will take the last breath out of the international film market in Milan called Mifed.

“Now a lot of people are skipping that and coming to L.A.,” said Tom Bernard, co-president of Sony Pictures Classics. “People hated going to Mifed -- it was bunker trade market where everyone got sick because they never cleaned the air duct filters.”

The AFM has its share of “bottom feeder” buyers who sell movies like “Biker Mice from Mars.” But, according to several distributors and producers, AFM serves an important role.

“With the death of Mifed, AFM is really the only other opportunity until May,” said David Linde, co-president of Focus Features. “AFM is critical for the international people. As a market, it is as important as Cannes.”

Jonathan Wolf, the AFM’s managing director, calls the AFM-AFI alliance a “match made in heaven” and noted that usually two-thirds of AFI’s films come from outside the United States.

“Producers are using festivals, not to reach consumers as they have been the last 40 or 50 years, but to reach the wholesale buyer,” Wolf said. He said that buyers from 72 countries will attend this year’s AFM.

But some wonder if AFM-AFI could ever become as glamorous as the Cannes Film Festival, which is held in the south of France.

“Cannes is unbeatable because of history, location, its position on the calendar, etc,” said Wouter Barendrecht, co-chairman of Fortissimo Films, a Hong Kong-based film sales company. “Buyers will mostly go to the market at AFM, but over the years the AFI festival might become a player too. Now it’s too early to tell..”

Others wonder if people will shuttle between the festival in Hollywood and the market in Santa Monica.

“The question is will people take the bus for an hour from Santa Monica and Hollywood,” said Nick Meyer, co-president of Lions Gate International.

Spanish director Pedro Almodovar will be honored at the festival with two events: on Sunday, there will be a presentation of his new film, “Bad Education,” and on Monday night, the festival will honor him with a montage from his past films, followed by a Q&A; with the director.

There will also be various showcases of European, Asian, Latin, German and documentary films throughout the festival. The festival will also feature a “New Faces in European Cinema” segment, in which the AFI will recognize 10 filmmakers and actors from films in the festival, of which Yapo, the director of “Soundless,” is one.

The film opened in Germany last April but despite strong reviews, performed poorly at the box office, the German-born Yapo said.

Now he’s banking on American filmgoers.

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AFI Fest

The 18th annual festival hosted by the American Film Institute starts today and continues through Nov. 14, screening 136 films from 42 countries. For event information and ticket availability, see AFIfest.com.

Here are some of the films already generating buzz:

“Beyond the Sea”

Oscar winner Kevin Spacey directs and stars in the drama about genre-hopping singer Bobby Darin as he records numerous hits, lands an Oscar nomination and falls for Sandra Dee. 8 p.m. today, Cinerama Dome, $75, includes gala.

“House of Flying Daggers”

Chinese-language action movie about the Tang dynasty’s investigation into a dancer suspected of ties to a revolutionary group. 8 p.m. Sat., Cinerama Dome, $25.

“Bad Education”

Two boys’ destinies are forged after they discover love and fear at Catholic school in the ‘60s in this latest offering by writer-director Pedro Almodovar. An Almodovar tribute Monday will feature a Q&A; with the filmmaker and film critic Pete Hammond. 8 p.m. Sun., Cinerama Dome, $25.

“The Merchant of Venice”

Al Pacino, Jeremy Irons, Joseph Fiennes star in the film based upon William Shakespeare’s play about a wealthy businessman who backs a young friend’s bid to woo an heiress, only to fall into the debt of a moneylender. 8 p.m. Tue., Cinerama Dome, $25.

“A Very Long Engagement”

Jean-Pierre Jeunet directs Audrey Tautou as a French woman searching for her lover, believed to have been court-martialed and left for dead in World War I. 8 p.m. Wed., Grauman’s Chinese Theatre, $25.

“The Sea Inside”

Based on the true story of a Spaniard paralyzed in a diving accident who, caught between two strong-willed women, fights for the right to die with dignity. 8 p.m. Nov. 14, Cinerama Dome, $75 includes gala.