Bring Your Indie to Europe: Festivals Unite to Promote Independent American Cinema

American independent film has been granted a new voice in European markets. Today, the Leiden International Film Festival announced a partnership with the American Film Festival of Wroclaw, Poland a joint launch of the 1st European Network for Independent American Cinema. Through cooperative programming, the network will aim to unify a group of European festivals to increase the presence of and audience for independent American features in the region.

“The idea behind creating the network was to work side by side with those festivals in Europe who celebrate American Indies and amplify the festival experience for both audiences, industry and filmmakers attending in every region,” Alexander Mouret, Artistic Director of the Leiden International Film Festival said. “By creating a partnership, we saw an opportunity to combine our resources and bring exciting new voices in American cinema to European audiences, while at the same time providing a diverse audience to filmmakers and participants, encouraging their circulation in the international film community.”

Also participating will be French festival US in Progress, which has already made efforts to introduce American indies to France, including this year’s Sundance hit “Ping Pong Summer.”  The venture will offer a full range of programming including networking, conferences, sales and master classes. The principle goal of the 1st European Network is to serve filmmakers looking to break out in the European marker through integrated marketing and networking opportunities to enhance their visibility among industry and audience members in the EU.