Record Attendance for AFM

SANTA MONICA, November 5: The 28th American Film Market
(AFM) has set an all-time attendance record, registering a total of 8,343
attendees to date, a 1.6-percent increase from the previous year.

Some 1,628 buyers from 65 countries registered for the
market—which opened November 1 and runs until November 7—a
3-percent rise from last year’s 1,573 buyers from 61 nations.

Territories turning out with an increase in attendance
compared to 2006 include the U.S. (up 10 percent), France (12 percent), Poland
(50 percent), Turkey (25 percent), Russia (40 percent) and Brazil (18 percent),
while attendance for Scandinavia and Taiwan fell 28 percent and 53 percent,
respectively.

Among exhibitor-affiliated participants, including
executives, producers, talent and guests, attendance increased from 3,888 to
4,021, and industry attendees, which includes non-buyers and sellers, increased
to 1,785 from last year’s 1,578.

The number of guests of the Independent Film &
Television Alliance (IFTA), which produces the AFM, was down from 874 to 670,
while 239 members of the global media registered to cover this year’s market, a
decline from 2006’s 295 members.

This is the fourth consecutive year that the AFM has filled
the capacity of the Loews Santa Monica Beach Hotel and Le Merigot Beach Hotel,
where 430 companies from 30 countries are exhibiting. Sixteen panels with more
than 100 executives discussing industry trends have already taken place at the
market, with some 900 screenings of 537 films in 34 languages scheduled.

AFM 2008 will take place from November 5 to 12.

—By Kristin Brzoznowski