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FESTIVALS / AWARDS Slovakia

Film Europe takes its Be2Can festival online, augmenting its hybrid distribution model

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- Festival films from Film Europe’s portfolio will be screened online in the company’s “virtual theatre” as part of a hybrid cross-promotion and distribution strategy

Film Europe takes its Be2Can festival online, augmenting its hybrid distribution model
Another Round by Thomas Vinterberg, which will open this year's edition of Be2Can

Distributor of European cinema Film Europe is moving the seventh edition of its showcase of festival films Be2Can (see the news) into the virtual space. The company will be utilising its very own VoD platform, Edisonline (see the news), an online festival film library, which was launched in April, to host a slew of flicks acquired from the big three, Berlin, Venice and Cannes. Ivan Hronec, Film Europe’s founder and CEO, told Cineuropa that Be2Can was originally conceived as a hybrid showcase (see the news). “Be2Can films have been offered simultaneously in theatres, on VoD and on television,” and the latest addition is “the virtual theatre”, where the titles from this year’s line-up will be streamed.

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The opening film of this year’s edition is Thomas Vinterberg’s latest, Another Round [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile
]
, which will be shown as a domestic premiere. A double bill will be screened on each day of the Be2Can festival, including the latest instalment in Roy Andersson’s “living tetralogy”, About Endlessness [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Roy Andersson
film profile
]
, which will be paired with the director’s previous dramedy, A Pigeon Sat on a Branch Reflecting on Existence [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Roy Andersson
film profile
]
. The Golden Bear-winning Iranian-Czech-German portmanteau film There Is No Evil [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile
]
by Mohammad Rasoulof will screen alongside another Golden Bear laureate, Taxi Tehran by Jafar Panahi, Safy Nebbou’s Who You Think I Am [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Juliette Binoche
film profile
]
is coupled with Hirokazu Koreeda’s The Truth [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Hirokazu Kore-eda
film profile
]
, and Gaspar Noé’s psychedelic mockumentary Lux Æterna has been paired with Jean-Luc Godard’s The Image Book [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile
]
.

Hronec told Cineuropa that the concept of Be2Can is part of a new model of distribution. “A new film will be screened in the virtual theatre – for example, Another Round. Its twin The Commune [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Thomas Vinterberg
film profile
]
will be available in the virtual theatre but also on SVoD via Edisonline, and other Vinterberg films like The Celebration will be rotating on Film Europe’s TV channel. It’s not solely a day-and-date release, but a hybrid cross-promotion of a single programming idea on all platforms,” reveals Film Europe’s CEO. The virtual Be2Can festival will be available in Slovakia, and Film Europe’s SVoD is also operated in the Benelux. Furthermore, Hronec confirmed that the team is currently contemplating expanding the Film Europe Channel to Southern Europe.

Be2Can runs from 23-29 November, and the full line-up is available here.

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