PRIMEPACKAGING - THIRD ROUND OFF TO A SUCCESSFUL START

Training programme for European film producers commences with 14 participants and 8 international film projects

The first of three "Centers" for PRIMEPACKAGING 2008, a European training initiative for independent film and television producers, will take place in Berlin from July 16-20, 2008. The Berlin-based PRIMEHOUSE GmbH, which has successfully organised the programme for producers since 2006, received over 40 participation requests from France, Bulgaria, Poland, Austria, Great Britain, Croatia, Serbia, Spain and Switzerland. 8 film projects from 6 countries were selected for participation.
PRIMEPACKING welcomes several countries representing projects for the first time; France with Autonauts of the Cosmoroute (Les Films du Présent, Arles); Serbia with Play me Kusturica (Film House Kiselo Dete, Belgrade/Kinoherz OHG, Berlin); and Great Britain with the two projects Bait (NyAC Independent Film Production, London) and Relative Desire (Different Ltd., London). Austria and Poland are present with Untitled Lovestory (Eidolon, Vienna) and The Devil's Work (AMP Polska, Warsaw). Projects from Germany include Devil's Ball (Acar Entertainment, Berlin) and Heilige Kühe (Lichtblick, Cologne). "The multitude of international production companies that applied to participate in this year's PRIMEPACKAGING is proof that for some time now, the PRIME principle and its effectiveness are being talked about abroad," emphasises Frank Stehling, Managing Director of PRIMEHOUSE. The next two Centers of the three-part training programme are expected to take place by the end of the year in Vienna and Copenhagen.
The goal of PRIMEPACKAGING is to develop sustainable marketing and financing strategies for national and international film projects. "PRIMEPACKAGING is the only European programme in the sector to take into account the games industry when providing analysis on the potential of film projects," says Frank Stehling. Akin to how the process might be in a vertically-integrated studio, the producer programme aims to unite producers and the market potential of each individual project with experts from the fields of screenplay development, market research, distribution, broadcasting, financing and games/interactive media for a round-table discussion. Afterwards, each participant has an opportunity to meet with experts one-on-one and discuss the project in an individual and private setting. In addition to this, producers can also reach the experts at any time during the entire duration of the training programme.
Among the experts at PRIMEPACKAGING 2008 is renowned British screenwriter Phil Parker ("Wallace and Gromit"). Alongside him, sales experts Thorsten Ritter (Bavaria International) and Amelie von Kienlin (Programme Acquisition, Telepool GmbH) will also be attending, as well as financial experts Kristian Kreyes (ILB) and Markus Röhle (NRW Bank), and distribution expert Christoph Ott (NFP Neue Filmproduktion GmbH, Berlin), amongst others. André Blechschmidt (GAME, the German federal union for computer games developers/Radon Labs) will also be present to represent the games and interactive media sectors.

For more information, please visit: http://www.prime-house.de/

PRIMEHOUSE GmbH
16 July 2008

Press liaison:
Clarissa-Diana Wilke
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