“Berlin was solid and the market felt good”: Buyers and sellers on EFM 2026

International buyers and sellers enjoyed a positive market experience at the Berlinale’s European Film Market (EFM), thanks to encouraging activity around packages and several appealing festival selections with territories available.

Many started meetings early, with US and some European sales agents sitting down with European buyers on Monday (February 9), three days before the official start of the EFM and Berlinale. Sellers wanted to pitch to acquisitions executives with full 2026 budgets, and also to ensure a smooth five-day runway before many European buyers headed home at the weekend to be with their families for the school half-term holidays.

“Everything is so front-loaded now. We find ourselves beginning in-person meetings two days in advance of the market,” said Bankside Films managing director Stephen Kelliher and head of sales Yana Georgieva in a joint email to Screen. “This is in addition to the Zoom meetings that take place two weeks prior.”

Todd Olsson, president of international sales at US-based Highland Film Group, was in a similar position. “We were doing virtual meetings the week before Berlin started,” he revealed. “Getting scripts out and having a chance to talk to buyers so they’re on their mind as they’re going into that market has always been helpful. We’ve always tried to be early. Buyers get inundated.”

By Sunday, many sellers and acquisition decision-makers had left, highlighting an ongoing disconnect between the market and festival tracks.

While starting early is nothing new, starting so early is making other sellers rethink their approach. While in Cannes, the early start is not so pronounced, as the festival and market start on a Tuesday and attendees are generally happy to spend time in the south of France in May, engaging with big sales slates, all eyes are now on Toronto’s upcoming maiden market in September.

“It definitely will make us review our timings at each market ongoing,” said Spencer Pollard, CEO of UK-based Kaleidoscope Film Distribution, which was selling Casey Walker’s horror Ithaqua at the EFM. “We already do lots of pre-market/festival meetings during Cannes and AFM, and it appears that EFM will follow similar patterns. We expect for [TIFF: The Market], there will be a lot of discussions pre-market if the films we are in post-production on have their planned premieres in the late summer/autumn of 2026.”

Buyer caution has extended the time it takes to close deals. In one notable on-site buy, fledgling US distributor Sumerian Pictures acquired Beth de Araujo’s Competition selection Josephine, after watching its world premiere in Sundance.

Sony is still understood to be in final negotiations to acquire worldwide rights to the Brie Larson horror package Skeletons, sold by FilmNation, CAA Media Finance and WME Independent. Pre-sales activity continues to swirl around others, including the popular Ana de Armas psychological thriller Sweat from AGC Studios and Lionsgate International’s psychological horror A Headful Of Ghosts and Colman Domingo’s Nat King Cole biopic Unforgettable. Streamers and studios are circling 193’s Kate Hudson and Javier Bardem romantic comedy Hello & Paris.

Festival programme

All of the buyers contacted by Screen for this piece expressed admiration and support for Berlinale director Tricia Tuttle, who endured a political firestorm during her second edition with commentary, open letters and journalists’ questions at press conferences, creating a challenging atmosphere for Tuttle and her team. 

But one thing was for sure: distributors liked the selection and admire what she is building.

“Berlin was solid this year, and generally the market felt good,” noted Arianna Bocco, SVP of global distribution at Mubi. “There were some genuinely strong films, many of which leaned more arthouse than broadly global, but there was something for everyone. Several of the bigger packages appear to be holding for Cannes.”

“The programming does feel like it’s moving closer to the market by selecting films which attract the attention of distributors,” said Bankside’s Kelliher and Georgieva.

Buyers generally agreed. “The official selection showcased some very powerful filmmaking and exciting discoveries. It’s up to distributors to find and shine a light on those projects in their territories,” said Laura Wilson, head of development & acquisitions, at the UK’s Altitude.

Eleonora Pesci, acquisitions manager at UK-Ireland distributor Curzon, said the company was happy with the festival programme, while Eddie Bertozzi, head of acquisitions at Italy’s Be Water Film, hailed the “quality programme”. Bertozzi picked up Shahrbanoo Sadat’s festival opener No Good Men.

Enrique Costa, co-founder of Spain’s Elastica Films, cited Anthony Chen’s Competition entry We Are All Strangers “as a particularly strong and emotionally resonant title with clear potential in our territory”. 

Packages 

Buyers said they were looking for projects that stood out from the crowd. “They want big star-driven [films] they can sell for TV,” noted Yvette Zhuang of US sales outfit Manifest Pictures. “But with a bigger level of cast than they’re usually already getting on TV so they can have a theatrical life with it. Then it has a great ancillary balance.”

There were plenty of horror titles in the market. Zhuang and business partner Zach Glueck, the respective former Miramax head of sales and WME Independent co-head of international, enjoyed a successful inaugural market, introducing themselves to buyers and pre-selling C2 Motion Picture Group’s horror A Body In The Woods starring Emma Roberts.

“Horror is one of the few genres where you can place a well-budgeted bet and it still can have results,” said Zhuang. “There’s a real audience there.”

“The market felt busy,” said Zak Brilliant, head of the UK’s MetFilm Sales and MetFilm Distribution. “Plenty of options for buyers, but again, the buying process is taking longer.”

Caroline Couret-Delègue, managing director of the UK’s Film Seekers, was selling Alex Kahuam’s supernatural horror The Remedy, which wrapped in late 2025. “Action and distinctive quality horror is still what sells best for us,” she said. “However, we saw renewed interest in high-end feel-good dramas, which is positive as those films traditionally only work on a theatrical model.”

“There is an optimism on the horizon,” suggested Highland Film Group’s Todd Olsson. “The cadence [of deal-making] has changed but there’s still a demand. You have to remain focused on the quality and putting together really good packages and solid material and be realistic about pricing, who’s buying, and who the audience is.”

Olsson’s sales slate included Pierre Morel’s action thriller The Good Samaritan, starring Daisy Ridley, Josh Duhamel and Sharlto Copley, as well as Stratagem starring Noomi Rapace and Teo Yoo, produced by David Lancaster, the indie producer whose credits include Whiplash and Drive. 

The UK’s WestEnd Films managing director Maya Amsellem, who was selling Corinna Faith’s horror Unspeakable starring Eliza Scanlen at EFM, noted that bringing promos and announcing production start dates tells the market the project is “real”.

“Casting, of course, remains the key,” she added. “Distributors want certainty that a film is happening and the cast helps them put a value on it.”

Where were the buyers from? 

Germany, Latin America, and Australian buyers in particular were out in force this year. Asia remained tough because of the proximity of Chinese New Year and the upcoming Filmart in Hong Kong (March 17-20). Kaleidoscope’s Pollard reported “significant interest” from North America, Australia/New Zealand, Scandinavia, Benelux, Germany, and airlines.

“Europe remains the bread and butter of what we’re doing here,” added Manifest’s Glueck. 

Bankside’s Kelliher and Georgieva, whose slate included Paul Andrew Williams’s supernatural drama Faith and Ashley Watlers’ Perspectives selection Animol, said: “Eastern Europe remains the most aggressive territory in the market, largely due to reduced competition in the region. Portugal, Spain, Benelux, Australia/New Zealand also feel very active. In contrast, most other territories are proceeding very cautiously. Many buyers are taking a wait-and-see approach.”

“This was one of the strongest Berlinales in years” 

Attendees were enthused by and supportive of Tuttle’s festival selection, and the depth of appreciation for the job she (and her team) does was clear. “I am impressed with the curatorial and organisational skills of Tricia and hope she holds on,” said Kino Lorber’s Richard Lorber, who acquired North American rights to Rafael Manuel’s Sundance and Berlinale international premiere Filipiñana. “She has navigated the storm courageously and competently […] This was one of the strongest Berlinales in years.”

Another US buyer noted, “I want to see Tricia stay. In my view, she’s done everything right, honoured key figures from the previous programming team while complementing it with new outside people. She hired a chief of staff to deal with exactly this kind of political turmoil in a country not her own, has travelled tirelessly to meet with people to listen and learn, and taken German lessons so as to honour the place she works and lives part-time. It would be a shame and very shortsighted to let her go based on a political climate that is not of her own making.”

“Curzon has signed the recent open letter on the future of the Berlinale,” said a Curzon statement. “A film festival without political and artistic independence loses its cultural and social legitimacy. It cannot serve as a launch pad for films to audiences around the world without that independence.”

“The selection was one of the strongest in many years in terms of quality,” says WestEnd’s Amsellem. “A remarkable combination of established directors and cast with new talents and feature debuts. Personally, I also really appreciated [Tuttle’s] response to the political controversies. No artist should be forced to comment on political views or situations. If that’s what film festivals will be about now, then we can stay home and watch the news.” 

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