Director-Driven Projects — and Genre (Still) — the Focus at EFM as Buyers Look to Awards Season’s Bold Offerings

Alex Ritman and Elsa Keslassy

13 February 2025 at 1:03 am·4-min read

The 2025 awards season may still be a few weeks from its final hurrah, but it’s already had an impact on the film industry as buyers and sellers prepare to congregate once more at the European Film Market in Berlin.

With a lineup of Oscar frontrunners that includes “The Brutalist,” “Anora,” “The Substance” and “Emilia Pérez” — coupled with some impressive box office figures that look only set to grow — this year’s race has highlighted the desire of cinemagoers for bold, director-driven, out-of-the-ordinary fare.

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“When you look at ‘Emilia Pérez’ and ‘I’m Still Here’ and ‘The Substance,’ those films are unique, they told some of the best stories and bring a unique perspective on something,” said Scott Schuman, head of AMC Networks, which encompasses IFC Films.

For Schuman, the EFM is exactly the place where international buyers respond to these types of packages — led by creatively minded directors. “Does a Jacques Audiard or Walter Salles movie maybe sell for a little more? Yes, because I think [independent distributors] understand that the visionary behind it is oftentimes the most important aspect of it. It’s always about finding the auteurs that are going to make that noisy stuff.”

Sarah Lebutsch, Protagonist Pictures’ executive VP of sales and distribution, says the company is now “certainly looking” for the sort of daring and adventurous film projects that — as “The Substance’s” global box office of more than $76 million proves — “get people to leave the house and provide something that is more of an event and stands out.”

Protagonist — which helped sell “The Brutalist” — is bringing several new projects to Berlin that tap into that bold filmmaker mindset, including the dystopian, post-apocalyptic thriller “Die by Night” from Rod Blackhurst and the elevated horror “The Night House,” starring Aaron Paul and Jacob Tremblay, an adaptation of the Jo Nesbø bestseller.

For Nick Shumaker, the boss of AC Independent, Anonymous Content’s sales and finance arm, “The Brutalist” ($25 million globally to date) and fellow awards favorite “Conclave” ($92 million gross) were able to “capture a younger audience for what traditionally would be seen as something targeted demographically to an older audience.” He praised A24 for marketing and eventizing “The Brutalist,” Brady Corbet’s 3.5 hour epic.

Anonymous will be at EFM with Lofty Nathan’s “The Carpenter’s Son” starring Noah Jupe, FKA Twigs, and Nicolas Cage, as well as Hanna Bergholm’s “Nightborn” and Raoul Peck’s George Orwell documentary.

Shumaker suggested that the success of “The Brutalist” could even embolden “director-driven drama to exist.” But for many, drama — at least drama without any big name stars or talent attached — is still proving a tough sell to risk-averse buyers, especially at the package stage.

“It’s not that dramas aren’t valid, I think they are and the audience in the end often love them, but they’re hard to pre-sell,” said Ben Pugh, co-founder of production and management company 42. “Distributors need to know what they are selling to an audience.” Last year, 42 announced the Drake Doremus feature “Like Crazy” starring Emilia Clarke and Edgar Ramirez, but Pugh said they chose not to take it to the market. “Our financiers financed it and we held it back because it’s a really beautiful film that we feel like people will respond to when finished.”

Genre is continuing its hot streak, which began long before Coralie Fargeat unleashed her body-horror drama on the world. A bumper crop of films in Sundance — including “The Ugly Stepsister,” which sold wide for Memento — will be joined by more projects looking for buyers in Berlin. “Genre films, and particularly the horror films, continue to work very well,” noted Lebutsch, who adds that a relatively quiet AFM was buoyed by solid sales of genre titles.

But there’s hope that, even outside of genre, Berlin may make amends for AFM and a Sundance that had a sluggish start on the dealmaking front.

“We’re seeing some exciting stuff coming through,” said Schuman, citing slates from Black Bear, Lionsgate and A24 that are being unveiled for international buyers. On his part, Shooman said he’s going to be focusing his attention on roughly “10 premiere projects.”

“Berlin is a good time for packages to hit the marketplace,” he added, “either to introduce a project or to get that true launch. It’s not like Cannes, where we’re going to have 60 scripts, but Berlin is a much more targeted collaborative market where you can sit and really talk through what people want and how to be a good partner on certain things that may have a missing piece or two.”

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