Wednesday, October 24-------The Rome Film Festival has released the statistics of its parallel market initiative The Business Street. Just 48 hours after the second edition of The Business Street came to a close on Sunday, film sales and acquisitions are still being finalized, but the activity clearly points to a successful venture that gives the Festival a unique profile in the sales of films to the international marketplace.

In all 142 industry screenings were held (up from 130 last year), with 83 films available in the video libraries for buyers to peruse. Among the films screened, there were 25 Market Premieres, among them Piano, solo by Riccardo Milani (sold by Adriana Chiesa Enterprises), The Secret by Vincent Perez (EuropaCorp), and Sous les toits de Paris by Hiner Saleem (Wild Bunch).

The number of international industry professionals also increased from last year's debut effort. In all, over 600 professionals were accredited from over 40 countries, including Argentina, Australia, Austria, Belgium, Bosnia Herzegovina, Brazil, Canada, Chile, Colombia, South Korea, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Japan, Greece, Hong Kong, India, Ireland, Italy, Mexico, New Zealand, Norway, Holland, Poland, Portugal, Puerto Rico, the United Kingdom, Romania, Russia, Singapore, Spain, the United States, Sweden, Switzerland, Taiwan, Thailand, Turkey, Hungary, and Ukraine. Topping the list for the number of accredited professionals were France, Germany, U.K., U.S., and Japan, as well as Italy, of course.

Over 250 buyers attended (up from 160), including representatives from such companies as The Weinstein Company, Canal Plus, MK2, Prokino, CJ, Happinet, Sandrew Metronome, Momentum, Vertigo Films, Gaga, Broad Media, King Records and many more. More than 60 sellers were registered, including such top industry companies as Non Stop Sales, Wild Bunch, Celluloid Dreams/Dreamachine, Sogepaq, TF1, The Match Factory, Bavaria Films, Gaumont, Pyramide, Films Distribution and many more.

Italian films dominated the market screenings with the highest attendance, with Riccardo Milani's Piano, solo taking first place, followed by L'Abbuffata by Mimmo Calopresti and La giusta distanza by Carlo Mazzacurati. International films that topped buyers' interests included: 12 by Nikita Mikhalkov, Peur(s) du Noir, Ben X by Nic Balthazar, The Princess of Nebraska by Wayne Wang, The Secret by Vincent Perez, Ce que mes yeux ont vu by Laurent De Bartillat, Suso's Tower by Tom Fernandez, Reclaim Your Brain by Hans Weingartner, A Thousand Years of Good Prayers by Wayne Wang, Before the Rains by Santosh Sivan, and The Three Robbers by Hayo Freitag.  The Business Street was curated by Giorgio Gosetti, Silvain Auzou, and Diamara Parodi.The success of this industry venture demonstrates how the Rome FilmFest, in only its second year, has emerged as an important event on the film industry calendar.

Sandy Mandelberger, Rome FF Dailies Editor