American indies face the increasingly challenging international marketplace.

BY ANTHONY KAUFMAN

Summertime in Cannes may seem like a sun-drenched nirvana of global distribution and untapped world revenue. But for many American independent films heading out to Cannes‘ market, international territories are no easier to crack than the U.S., say producers and sales agents.

Often an essential piece of revenue, foreign sales are sluggish, especially for critic-driven films without stars, genre elements or easy promotional hooks. Whether it‘s the result of a worldwide economic dip, a slowdown in moviegoing, widespread piracy or the rise of homegrown product, U.S.-based indie producers and sales agents can no longer count on sweet deals from European TV stations or automatic sales to countries, far and wide. As GreeneStreet International‘s Amy Beecroft admits, “There is always an ebb and flow, and right now, the market is going through one of those cycles: Buyers are being very particular.”

At Sundance ‘08, two of the festival‘s most acclaimed low-budget indies Ballast and Frozen River sealed international deals with Paris-based sales agents Celluloid Dreams and Rezo Films International.

But the work of selling those films has only just begun. According to Celluloid‘s Pierre Menahem, Ballast had only closed on Greece, Iceland and Latin American pay TV after the Berlin market, while it was still in negotiations with U.K., France and Germany, as of press time. Menahem has no doubt that Ballast will find fans overseas along with some distribution, but he admits, “American films without cast and without a well-known director are as difficult as foreign-language films,” he explains. “English language does not make it easier anymore.”

However, for another U.S. film the company picked up at Sundance, Jonathan Levine‘s The Wackness, co-starring Ben Kingsley and acquired in the U.S. by Sony Pictures Classics, the international picture looks brighter. “We sold widely in Berlin to big distributors: France, U.K., Spain, Scandinavia, Italy, Australia, Middle East, Greece, Portugal,” says Menahem. “So let‘s say it‘s not about U.S. indies,” says Menahem. “It just depends on the film, whether it is commercial or not.”

Producer Mary Jane Skalski likens the current reticence in the international theatrical marketplace to the same selectiveness on the part of domestic distribs. “Distributors would rather wait and see,” she says. “Before, people could hedge their bets. Now everyone‘s target has gotten so narrow. Everyone needs as many home runs as they can get.”

One of Skalski‘s recent projects, Tom McCarthy‘s The Visitor, for example, has been selling overseas through U.K. sales outfit K5 International. Despite the film‘s critical acclaim at festivals from Toronto to Sundance, K5‘s Bill Stephens acknowledges the film has two central problems: “1. The word ‘drama‘ strikes fear into the international buyer, unless it is of their own making, and 2. ‘immigration‘ as a buzzword is not helpful.” The film chronicles the relationship between a widowed professor and an illegal immigrant couple, a man from Syria and his Senegalese girlfriend. Though international in flavor, Stephens says the “problem territories” remain in the Far East, Latin America and, “strangely,” he adds, given the film‘s subject matter, “the Middle East.” “Many of these areas respond to action movies and little else,” he explains. “Certainly western dramas are not high on their list of priorities.”

As with the case for many American indies, however, the U.S. release could shore up greater buyer support abroad. “Everything does seem predicated on what happens in North America,” says Joshua Zeman, producer of Peter Callahan‘s Against the Current, which sales agent Fortissimo Film Sales boarded during production, and Steve Barron‘s Gotham Award “Best Film Not Playing at a Theater Near You” winner Choking Man, which Visit Films acquired for world sales.

Choking Man, which received a very limited U.S. run from International Film Circuit, made back just 20% of its budget on international sales, according to director Steve Barron. Because the film is about an Ecuadorian dishwasher who falls in love with a Korean waitress in a Greek diner, Barron says he thought greater opportunities would exist abroad. “The numbers were lower than we thought,” he admits. “But that goes across the board in terms of managing our expectations versus a supersaturated marketplace.”

While Ryan Kampe of the new New York City-based boutique sales and production company Visit Films acknowledges, “we‘re not getting rich and we‘re not getting the filmmakers rich.” He says they hope over the long term they can help filmmakers make up their negative cost. At a time when most domestic and foreign buyers‘ decisions are cast, director or producer-driven, Kampe‘s Visit Films is trying to carve out a unique niche: Provide a global audience for those well-reviewed ultralow-budget indies that barely register on U.S. box office charts. The company expects to have closed deals by press time on Joe Swanberg‘s Hannah Take the Stairs for U.K., Australia and Brazil. Swanberg‘s previous film, Kissing on the Mouth, has already traveled to South Korea. “There is an underserved market for this size film,” says Kampe, who plans to bring a number of films to this year‘s Cannes Marche.

For the amount of money they‘re able to yield — “you can get pretty fair terms anywhere from $5,000 to $25,000” — he says it wouldn‘t be worth the efforts of a bigger sales company to take these movies on. But Kampe says for an upstart with low overhead, low-budget films such as Swanberg‘s have value: “If Hannah cost $80,000, and you‘re getting $20,000, that‘s worth it.”

While Kampe agrees that foreign distributors are more discerning, he also notes that a number of smaller, niche companies are cropping up in Australia (such as Madmen, Accent, Force Entertainment, Kojo), the U.K. (such as Soda, Artificial Eye, DogWoof, Diffusion) and Brazil (MovieMobz, an innovative cinema-on-demand and online community initiative) that are open to new release models for indies. “We‘re talking to a distrib in Japan about having a digital release,” he adds.

“Maybe we won‘t sell to Eastern Europe,” explains Kampe, “but now three or four distributors in Eastern Europe have seen Hannah, and maybe they‘ll say it doesn‘t work for them and maybe Bulgaria only takes violent action movies, but they‘ll see this guy‘s got talent and they‘ll be aware of his next movie.”