The American Film Market wrapped up Wednesday with the market promoters touting modest growth in attendance.
All told, 427 films hit the 10-day festival from more than 36 countries.
Attendance at the Santa Monica based market was up 6 percent to 7,695, versus 7,246 the previous year, festival backers said. The number of buyers rose 1 percent to 664 from 658 last year, while buying executives at the AFM dropped slightly to 1,417, as opposed to 1,419.
“The positive feeling in the halls is a direct result of production levels that are now in balance with marketplace demand,” AFM Managing Director Jonathan Wolf said in a statement. “Buyers are pre-buying, assuring they will have a steady flow of films, which in turn assures producers that their films have been pre-accepted by the marketplace.”
Overall, the mood among both buyers and sellers was more buoyant, brought on by a sense that there was more money to spend at this year’s festival. Last year, many attendees commented that the halls seemed unusually navigable and the air funereal, as many companies were still grappling with the aftershocks felt by the financial crisis.
Most of the films sold at the festival are of the straight-to-video ilk, although some prominent acquistions and projects were announced such as Ryan Gosling's thriller "Drive" and Miley Cyrus' action comedy "So Undercover."
AFM did not say whether there was any empirical evidence to back up that impression. There may have been more of an appetite for what was being sold, but overall the number of sellers at the market decreased 7 percent to 343.
Other points to note, countries with more buyers at the AFM this year included Italy, Sweden, Russia, China, and Singapore. Fewer buyers came from Netherlands, Spain, Argentina, and Brazil.
