Zurich Film Festival: Prize money is tied to TV advertising
Bad news for the distributors of the winning films from the last Zurich Film Festival: They’ve won promotional support in the form of TV commercials worth 50,000 francs—and still have to invest their own money.
The Zurich Film Festival (ZFF) is once again making headlines. The three winning films each receive 20,000 francs. They also receive an additional 50,000 francs in promotional funding if the film finds a distributor in Switzerland. Two of the 2008 winning films already had a distributor: one of them is Blind Loves. The documentary film about love between blind people is being released in Basel and Lucerne cinemas these days. According to Bazonline.ch, the distributor was disappointed to discover that the entire prize money is tied to advertising on the TV channels Sat.1, 31 and Kabel 1. Apart from the fact that these three channels do not necessarily appeal to the same audience as a documentary about blind people, the whole thing is hardly worthwhile in other respects either. The two-minute theatrical trailer used by distributor Look Now to promote the film is too long for TV channels. A new, shorter commercial would therefore have had to be shot. But the effort and costs were simply too high, says Remo Bräuchi from Look Now. So they had to do without the funding.
The second winning film, which already has a distributor in Switzerland, is Tulpan, a feature film about a Kazakh shepherd. However, the distributor Filmcoopi has decided to make use of the television time and realize a TV commercial. It is expected to cost an additional 10,000 francs. Felix Hächler from Filmcoopi does not know whether there will be a single new viewer for Tulpan among the TV audience. Bräuchi and Hächler unanimously agree that the distributors would be better served by targeted cinema advertising, posters and flyers informing the interested public.
According to Bazonline.ch, Karl Spörri, director of the ZFF, regrets that the distribution funding is tied up, but the ZFF cannot offer 50,000 francs in cash. The deal with sponsor Cinecom has been agreed and is also binding for this year's 5th edition of the festival. And what will happen to the unused advertising time from Look Now? The ZFF has decided to give the 50,000 francs to the distributor Filmcoopi, which can now advertise Tulpan with 100,000 francs.
The second winning film, which already has a distributor in Switzerland, is Tulpan, a feature film about a Kazakh shepherd. However, the distributor Filmcoopi has decided to make use of the television time and realize a TV commercial. It is expected to cost an additional 10,000 francs. Felix Hächler from Filmcoopi does not know whether there will be a single new viewer for Tulpan among the TV audience. Bräuchi and Hächler unanimously agree that the distributors would be better served by targeted cinema advertising, posters and flyers informing the interested public.
According to Bazonline.ch, Karl Spörri, director of the ZFF, regrets that the distribution funding is tied up, but the ZFF cannot offer 50,000 francs in cash. The deal with sponsor Cinecom has been agreed and is also binding for this year's 5th edition of the festival. And what will happen to the unused advertising time from Look Now? The ZFF has decided to give the 50,000 francs to the distributor Filmcoopi, which can now advertise Tulpan with 100,000 francs.
