HBO Max, Quibi Set for Keynotes at Cannes Marché du Film’s Meet the Streamers
By John Hopewell
LOS ANGELES (Variety.com) – WarnerMedia’s HBO Max and Jeffrey Katzenberg’s Quibi will be highlighted at next month’s Cannes Marché du Film Online’s focus on streaming platforms, as the world’s film industry seeks to get a stronger handle on the possible role of streaming platforms in future movie financing and distribution business models.
HBO Max’s keynote is described as its first international presentation following its May 27 launch.
With ad-supported platforms building as an alternative to subscription-based services and only a minority of art films gaining significant theatrical release outside their country of origin , the Marché’s Meet the Streamers conference strand, now totally online, will also feature AVOD service Tubi and arthouse platforms Filmin, from Spain, U.S. service Kino Marquee and Sweden’s Draken Film.
“The previous edition’s takeaways showed us the need to connect the various parts of the industry, tied together by constantly emerging streaming models across the studio and independent world,” said Jérôme Paillard, Marché du Film executive director, adding that “Today, more than ever before, we need to offer film industry professionals platforms – to connect, bond and learn from one another.”
HBO Max’s keynote will see Sandra Dewey, WarnerMedia Ent. president of productions and business operations, drill down on launching the WarnerMedia streaming platform.
Dewey will focus on launching “during an unprecedented time, navigating the evolving streaming landscape and the importance of cultivating and nurturing underrepresented talent,” the Cannes Film Market said in a press statement Thursday.
“Our industry is facing never before experienced challenges, but also the tremendous opportunity that springs from the well of change,” Dewey added in a statement.
Mobile, short-form content app Quibi launched on April 6 to initial downloads that were “not close to what we wanted,” co-founder Katzenberg recognized, but, said CEO Meg Whitman argued in a Deadline interview published May 11, the reopening of the U.S. could boost usage for the on-the-go, short form video service.
Quibi’s participants and keynote topic will be announced at a later date.
In further panels and conversations, also accessible to industry professionals registered with the Marché du Film Online, Adam Lewinson, Tubi chief content officer, will talk with Richard Cooper, Ampere Analysis research director, “on what will come next to compete with, and complement, the incumbent subscription services.”
A panel focusing on innovative independent streaming platforms across the world will feature panelists Jaume Ripoll, co-founder and editorial director at Spain-based Filmin, a successful art-film, upscale series platform; veteran U.S. independent Richard Lorber, president of Kino Marquee and Kino Lorber, a buyer of multiple big festival winners; and Olle Agebro, head of acquisitions for Draken Film, Sweden’s leading arthouse SVOD service backed by its Göteborg Film Festival.
Jean-Christophe J. Lamontagne and Kyle Greenberg, presidents of Montréal-based H264 and Brooklyn-based Circle Collective respectively, will take part in what is described as a “fireside chat on the new and exciting ways to approach global distribution through ‘traditional’ and new streams between emerging talents.”
There’s “a need for a better understanding of how the relationships with the streaming services and the way each model work can be apprehended, to ensure a diverse growth of the film industry,” said Aleksandra Zakharchenko and digital strategy consultant Quentin Carbonell, who are co-ordinating Meet the Streamers.
