On 15 October, European Work in Progress (EWIP) in Cologne hosted a panel titled “Strategies for European Arthouse Cinema Illustrated Via Two Creative Europe MEDIA-funded Films”, which examined the case studies of the distribution of Anna Hints’ European Film Awards Best European Documentary winner Smoke Sauna Sisterhood [+lire aussi :
critique
bande-annonce
interview : Anna Hints
fiche film] and Justine Triet’s Palme d’Or winner Anatomy of a Fall [+lire aussi :
critique
bande-annonce
interview : Justine Triet
fiche film]. The discussion also served as a warm-up panel for the International Film Distribution Summit (IFDS).

Speaking about the distribution of Smoke Sauna Sisterhood was Katre Valgma from ACME Film (Estonian distribution), Marie Regehr from Filmladen (Austrian distribution) and Jen Davies from Conic (UK distribution). Anatomy of a Fall was discussed by mk2’s Alya Belgaroui-Degalet for the film’s world sales, Katharina Günther from Plaion Pictures (German distribution), Beatrice Gulino from Teodora Film (Italian distribution) and Enrique Costa from Elastica Films (Spanish distribution).

Valgma, who kicked off the panel, shared how Smoke Sauna Sisterhood’s many awards and positive critical reception laid the groundwork for an immensely successful run beginning with the Estonian premiere on 24 March 2023. It became the first film that remained in Estonian cinemas for 66 weeks in a row.

ACME sought to promote the film as widely as possible, including in local supermarkets. The distributor capitalised on Estonia’s declaration of 2023 as the “Year of the Sauna" and the Vöro smoke sauna as a UNESCO-listed tradition, including inviting PR representatives to a smoke sauna 300 km outside of Tallinn.

The Estonian distributor also developed what Vagma called a “safe poster” for the Estonian premiere, which reduced the emphasis on naked bodies on the poster. The film reached 4,600 admissions during its opening weekend, 26,000 admissions at 13 weeks and eventually reached 40,000 lifetime admissions, which drastically exceeded their target of 14,000.

Hints was invaluable in the film’s marketing and became a new “national hero" through her spirited interviews, a sentiment echoed by both Filmladen’s Marie Regehr and Conic’s Jen Davies. Regehr spoke further about the director’s commitment to press junkets and ability to move the audience: “The Viennale was obviously the perfect launching platform because we had two sold out screenings of 700 people. […] I would say she, the director, was one of the biggest assets. She was so great, so dedicated, and she charmed all of us.”

Compared to ACME’s approach in Estonia, Regehr and Davies spoke about their companies’ niched-down publicity approaches. This included underscoring the film’s themes of body positivity/neutrality, intergenerational sorority and wellness while trying to reach feminists and LGBTQ+ audiences. Filmladen collaborated with feminist fitness centres and body positivity advocates, while Conic worked with local community saunas, including hosting a pop-up horsebox sauna outside of a cinema.

The film’s greatest strength is that “it’s as if you are sitting on the bench with these women,” said Regehr, with the film’s positioning as being by women, for women and about women. Davies also highlighted Conic's collaboration with Reclaim The Frame, a UK gender equity charity aimed at uplifting marginalised perspectives in film.

For the poster, Conic had a polar opposite approach to ACME’s in Estonia: it featured a still of nude women, with strategically positioned text, in order to create something immediately striking for the public. “It was like the echoes of Victorian Britain — let’s just do something to get people talking,” shared Davies. 

In Austria, Smoke Sauna Cinema opened in 11 cinemas and peaked at 18 in week three, leading up to 11 screening weeks and 8901 admissions. Davies reported that the film opened in 36 cinemas in the UK and went on to play at 130.

For Anatomy of a Fall, sales agent mk2 first launched the film at Cannes 2023 with just a script, advertising the film as Hitchcock meets Bergman with a “whodunit” narrative. This was eventually translated into film marketing in several territories including Italy, using exclusive Hitchcock-inspired postcard art and other merchandise. Anatomy of a Fall went to 78 distributors worldwide, reached seven million admissions and grossed more than 50 million euros at the box office.

mk2’s Alya Belgaroui-Degalet shared what she saw as an underlooked but immensely significant aspect of films with Oscar potential like Anatomy of a Fall: “If I have one very important message to convey here to all of you […] I will say that the game changer is all of the key foreign territories because of the [change in the Oscar rules] – there is more and more diversity and more and more foreign voters. It’s crucial that each of you have a list and know exactly who are the AMPAS (Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences) voters,” she explained.

Because the crime thriller genre is almost exclusively associated with television in Germany, Plaion instead centred the film’s exploration of relationships, successful women balancing their roles in life and the “female dream team” of star Sandra Hüller and director Triet. On the flip side, Italy’s Teodora Films and Spain’s Elastica Films stressed the legal thriller angle with variations of artwork and trailer from US distributor NEON, who emphasised the film’s darker elements.

Plaion’s Katharina Günther revealed how this worked in practice with the German release: “Women came out of the film and were really discussing the other topics of the movie, like, what does a modern relationship look like? What is a 'good mother'? How are successful women depicted in the media? And so on. We also know that especially this feminist discourse was very successful with younger audiences, which is important nowadays in Germany.”

Günther further stated that they took a more conventionalist approach, which worked well for an already acclaimed film: “We were very lucky with timing. Sometimes it’s not about doing something special or innovative, but doing the right thing.” In Germany, Anatomy of a Fall reached 525,00 admissions and made 5.3 million euros at the box office, becoming the most successful French film in German cinemas in 2023. The film reached 750 theatres and is still playing today.