Event will be held in Las Vegas for the first time; program includes 30 panels & presentations, conversations with Stuart Ford and Sébastien Raybaud
The American Film Market® (AFM®) is set to raise the curtain on its 45th edition and first-ever show in Las Vegas next week with exhibition space sold out and buyer and attendee registrations running strong with participants confirmed from 80 countries. AFM24 will run over six days, Nov. 5–10, at Palms Casino Resort in Las Vegas. The move to Las Vegas was announced by the Independent Film & Television Alliance® (IFTA®) and its Board of Directors in March 2024. This year, AFM will host Market activities in a single location at Palms, including Exhibit Space, 200+ AFM Screenings at the Palms’ Brenden Theatres, and The AFM Sessions.
Physical exhibition space for Market sold out last month and AFM will open with 286 sales, production, and distribution companies, along with international trade organizations, film commissions, and national umbrella stands from 34 countries. Exhibitors include A24, AGC Studios, Altitude Film Sales, Anton, Arclight Films, Bankside Films, Beta Cinema, Black Bear Pictures, Blue Fox Entertainment, Capstone Global, Charades, CJ ENM, Cornerstone, Embankment Films Limited, FILMAX, Film Mode Entertainment, FilmNation, Gaumont, GOODFELLAS/Wild Bunch International, Gravitas Ventures, HanWay Films, Lakeshore, Lionsgate, Mister Smith, NEON, Odin’s Eye Entertainment, Pathé Films, STUDIOCANAL, , Toei Company, Trust Nordisk, The Veterans, Voltage Pictures, WME Independent, and XYZ Films.
Countries, including China, France, Germany, Italy, Romania and Thailand, will host dedicated Umbrella Stands showcasing national companies and producers. Exhibitor offices and meeting tables will be located in AFM’s designated hub, Palms’ Fantasy Tower floors 8-17, 25, and 26 as well as in Nove. In addition, LocationEXPO at AFM will welcome film commissions, government agencies and production service companies from the U.S. and as far as Barbados, Italy, Japan, the Philippines, Saudi Arabia and Thailand. LocationEXPO will be located in the Palms Ballroom on the 2nd Floor.
Alongside the sales and licensing activity, LocationExpo and Screenings, The AFM Sessions presented by Wrapbook and Film Hawaii, will present 100 leaders, experts and influencers on 30 panels and presentations across two stages. A key attraction of this year’s Sessions, “The Innovators” will welcome two of the independent industry’s most prominent figures, Stuart Ford, chairman & CEO, AGC Studios, and Sébastien Raybaud, founder & CEO, Anton, to the stage Thursday morning, November 7 for engaging, one-on-one interviews with Jeremy Kay of Screen International and Scott Roxborough of The Hollywood Reporter, respectively.
Other Session highlights include:
November 6
From Local to Global: Developing Stories & Content for Worldwide Appeal – Main Stage
Matt Brodlie, Upgrade Productions
Katie Irwin, WME Independent
Matt Mueller, Screen International
Peter Van Steemburg, XYZ Films
Finding Gold: Discovering Captivating Narratives and Essential Story Ideas for Your Next Project – Main Stage
Miranda Bailey, Cold Iron Pictures
Karin Chien, dGenerate Films, Art & Action Productions
Phil Goldfine, Producer
Michele Kanan, Producer, Writer and Director
Michael Musante, Cherokee Film
Producing and Financing Films for Social Impact – Main Stage
Mary Aloe, Aloe Entertainment / Partners in Kind
Josh Harris, Peachtree Media
Jonathon Glucksman, Wondermind
Robert Rippberger, SIE Society
Jarnell Stokes, Stoked Bros. Media
Working with SAG-AFTRA as an Independent – View Stage
Olga Rodriguez-Aguirre, SAG-AFTRA
November 7
Finance I – Independent Film Financing in Today’s Financial Landscape – Main Stage
Jill Goldsmith, Deadline
Jon Gosier, Film Hedge
George Hamilton, Protagonist Pictures
Paula Paizes, Pressman Films
Miguel Palos, AGC Studio
Confronting Fear – Transcending, Challenging & Elevating the Horror Genre – Main Stage
Gregory Chambet, WTFILMS
Emily Gotto, Shudder
Tom Malloy, Glass House Distribution
Bob Portal, AMP
Priscilla Ross Smith, The Coven
November 8
Finance II: How to Choose a Location to Maximize Your Budget – Main Stage
Ryan Broussard, Wrapbook
Jeffery Greenstein, A Higher Standard
Andi Isaacs, University of Nevada-Las Vegas, Formerly Summit Entertainment
Simon Williams, Palisades Park Pictures
Black Culture at the Epicenter of Hollywood – View Stage
Kyle Bowser, NAACP Hollywood Bureau
Casting for Low-Budget Films – View Stage
Monica Kelly, CSA, Treadwell / Kelly Casting
Jennifer K.M. Treadwell, CSA, Treadwell / Kelly Casting
The Untold Realities of Global Film Sales: What’s Really Shaping Today’s Market?
Clay Epstein, Film Mode Entertainment
Tiffany Boyle, Ramo Law PC
Mimi Steinbauer, Radiant Films International
Brian O’Shea, The Exchange
November 9
AFM Pitch Conference: Mastering the Art of Pitching & Live Pitches – Main Stage
Cassian Elwes, Elevated
Lee Jessup, leejessup.com
Lorelle Lynch, AGC Studios
Killing It at the Box Office: How Cineverse’s Horror Sensation Won Opening Weekend – Main Stage
Chris McGurk, Cineverse
Lauren McCarthy, Cineverse
Thomas K Arnold, Media Play News
Maximizing Impact: Crafting Powerful Films with Limited Budgets – Main Stage
Paul Bales, The Asylum
Jeff Deverett, Producer
Efuru Flowers, Flourishing Films
Chris Gore, Film Threat
Max Woertendyke, Noble Gas Media
Review: Writer-Director Jesse Eisenberg’s “A Real Pain”
It's part comedy, part tragedy. It's part road-trip saga, part odd couple-buddy flick, and part Holocaust film. What could possibly have gone wrong?
Yup – everything could have gone wrong. So the first miracle about "A Real Pain," writer-director Jesse Eisenberg's remarkably accomplished film about mismatched cousins on a somber trip through Poland, is how it pulls off the most delicate of balancing acts.
That it does so while also asking intriguing questions about the nature of pain – personal vs. universal, historic vs. contemporary – is all the more impressive. So is the fact that it showcases an Oscar-worthy performance.
That stunning performance comes from Kieran Culkin, and what's striking is that it doesn't overpower the rest of the ensemble. That's a testament mostly to the careful way Eisenberg, who co-stars in the less flashy role, has constructed and paced his film. And as for Culkin, well, if you needed proof that his searing, Emmy-winning work as tortured live-wire Roman Roy in "Succession" wasn't a fluke, here you have it.
The movie, which is only Eisenberg's second directorial effort, stems from a trip the "Social Network" star took some 20 years ago to Poland. There, he found the tiny house his aunt had lived in before the Holocaust uprooted the family. He wondered what his own life would have been like had World War II never happened.
And that's one of the many conversations that David (Eisenberg) and Benji (Culkin) have as they travel through Poland on a mission to visit the house where their grandmother, who has recently died, once lived. (Eisenberg used the exact same house, which tells you just how personal this film was for him.)
It's a poignant but also awkward reunion for the cousins, who were... Read More