The 2016 American Film Market (AFM) closed its 37th edition Wednesday, November 9.

Founded in 1981, the AFM, is an international film industry event that takes place each year in the first week of November, in Santa Monica, California. For this year’s AFM, running from 2-9 November, the Loews Santa Monica Beach Hotel will be transformed once again into a busy expo, with 500+ screenings, 100+ Hollywood executives and thought leaders speaking, industry’s largest conference series, specialized roundtables and 8 days of networking.
 

Kick-offs premieres at the AFM included Paul Dano's directing debut 'Wildlife' staring Jake Gyllenhaal;  AFM sales on historical drama "Bitter Harvest" starring Max Irons and Samantha Barks; Dakota Fanning and Jesse Plemons in Kirsten Dunst’s adaption of  Sylvia Plath’s novel "The Bell Jar"; and "The Trainer", a drama from Oscar winner Neil Jordan ("The Crying Game") with Liam Neeson.

Spotted at the AFM were Adam Tarsitano (writer and executive producer) and Robert Wagner (producer and director) with the film “Strings’ about a New Jersey Rock n' Roller Jimmy Ford (real country singer Jason Michael Carroll), who reached the dead end of his life and career, that decides to give it a try in Nashville. Adam spoke with Indiewood about his experience at the AFM “This is my first time (not my last) attending the AFM. We are booth from the Raleigh area. The market brought a lot of exposure to our film. I feel we made so many connections that we may not have made otherwise. When you are meeting face to face with people as suppose to track them down by email, or telephone, it's just a different experience… Looking someone else in the eye versus looking at the computer screen”. Robert adds “What I love about the AFM is that you are meeting companies from all over the world. If we had taken the finances and costs to try to meet all these distributors face to face, we would have spent much more. Here you walk up, knock on doors, meet all these distributors and shake hands. There are also networking receptions in a less formal setting where you actually can socialize, get to know a little more about their companies, know how they got where they are at and talk about your project”.

Photo: Adam Tarsitano and Robert Wagner at the AFM

The popular AFM Conference Series and Roundtables, showcasing sessions on Financing, Pitching, Production, Marketing and Distribution featured global industry leaders, including The Weinstein Company president David Glasser; Co-Head Film Finance of CAA Micah Green; Independent producers Cassian Elwes and head of Greater China, Vice President of Asia Pacific, Motion Picture Association, William Feng.

As in previous years, attendees can benefit from AFM’s revamped online community, MyAFM, where they can create a profile, promote projects and services, find other participants, set meetings and maintain daily schedules.

If you missed this year’s AFM, get ready for the 2017 market.  Find out more here www.AmericanFilmMarket.com

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Review by Lia Fietz