Marseille: For four long days leading up to the solstice, the former residence of the Imperatrice Eugenie was swarmed by hordes of docmakers, sellers and buyers, all anxious to screen and be screened. Sunny Side of the Doc attracted 818 participants from 45 countries to Marseille’s Palais du Pharo for the eighth edition of its doc market held during the latter half of the Vue sur les Docs film festival, June 16 to 21.

The largely European market (of the 250 exhibitors from 25 countries, 110 were from France) reported increased attendance, most noticeable in the number of channels. This year 221 buyers from 31 countries attended, representing 132 channels. In 1996 88 channels attended.

Despite the efforts of protesting dock workers to prevent entry on the morning of the first panel, the conference component of the market introduced these proliferating thematic players, and sought to establish their channels’ needs, niches and, most importantly, how much?, a question selectively answered. To reflect the most pressing need, with National Geographic now also poised to enter Discovery in the European natural history fray, one day was devoted just to wildlife-casters’ concerns.

Here’s a sampling of the way the market is evolving:

Animal slots

– TSR of Switzerland is one of those professing an animal bent, mostly for 52-minute films ­ not just general info, docs with more of a storyline (a recurring theme). They sometimes prebuy. With a budget of 40,000 ff per hour, doc buyer Andree Hottelier says, ‘we have 80 times less than the Germans.’

– France 2 has a three-year-old animal slot for 52s (sometimes 26s), mostly acquired. Nicolas Petitjean says next year they’re seriously considering coproduction.

– France’s Canal+ animal doc tastes run to 15-20 hours and 25 half-hours, always original first-run, most ‘prefinanced upstream productions.’

– AB Sat’s Animaux, a European wildlife channel launched a year ago, broadcasts 21 hours in three modules (on cable in Paris), and includes some drama (well, Flipper) big docs, and mags. It started buying at 5,000 ff per hour. Since there’s not a big catalogue of French animal docs, buyer Isabelle Queme looks mostly to Great Britain, specifically Itel, and bbc.

– ‘The Australians have no innate sense of wonder and discovery as they do in Great Britain,’ says Dione Gilmour, head of ABC Australia’s natural history unit. Yet abc has an in-house unit, works with indies, and buys. ‘I don’t care if it’s shot on film or wet string,’ say Gilmour, but she d’es insist on a strong story and humor. ‘I hate worthy and earnest programs.’ Budgets range from us$100,000 to over us$1 million. They do not invest in overseas productions.

General doc channels

– France’s Planete Cable, a mature (nine-year-old) doc channel plans to increase the amount it coproduces. The programming for Germany and Italy is different than the French, programming which is also seen in Poland. Planete is on cable in Switzerland.

Its limit is 250,000 ff for 52-minute films, but it is planning to open a new window where it could invest a higher amount for productions of exceptional nature, even series, and with longer shelf life. Its brand new third structure will probably carry out 50 copros (some presales) with a limit of 200,000 ff. And it’s first structure (at 250,000) should probably rise to 300,000 ff. On the acquisition side, at 52 minutes, it’s looking at 22,000 ff for France and Poland, 12,000 for Germany (June 21 1997) and 10,000 for Planete Italy which starts up Oct. 16. For five years a Belgian channel has been discussed, and for two years Forum Planets, a debate/discussion channel has been noodled. ‘It’s dangerous with our director to even meet in the washroom because he gives us three new channels.’ Such as SeaSonS, a hunting and fishing channelŠ

– Odyssee France, owned by TF1, launched on tps six months ago, and president Gerard Carreyrou says having two doc channels is not too much for France. It is also expanding subs via cable. Adventure, wildlife, educational/arts are the themes. In 1998 it plans to go slowly into a production policy, using TF1 footage to create docs, and will also consider copros and presales at that time. It’s planning with Le Monde to have a debate channel.

– cna, Brazil, launching Aug. 1, is desperately looking for partnerships to produce material that will help its audience understand the history of Brazil, post censorship. gm Carlito Camargo says the ‘very open to copros’ caster will be doing 18 hours, current affairs, lots of docs, history and a&e, and locally producing four hours (mags). us$1,500 is the figure bandied about to the inevitable $ query.

– Ovation, u.s.a., an arts (visual and performing) net with 1.5 million subs, 60% docs and 40% performing arts, launched digital last year. Currently 90% acquisition and 10% copro and original, it hopes to increase the non-acquisition side in years two and three. Ovation pays us$3,500 per hour.

– Discovery Europe, based in London, buys rights for over 20 countries and separately for Italy and Africa. The u.k. also houses Discovery Home and Leisure and, as of July 1, Animal Planet. Discovery commissions over 200 hours a year and acquires over 600, and is into localizing as much as possible. Discovery pricing starts at us$5,000 an hour, and commissions at £20,000.

– National Geographic has a Sept. 1 launch in u.k. and Ireland, followed by Australia and Latin America, and will be running six hours in its first launch. It will copro, but not initially, and is buying for u.k., Ireland, Scandinavia, Eastern Europe, Spain, Australia and Latin America. They’re looking for over 200 hours, but won’t commit to any dollar figures.

Overall, an underwhelming response to National Geographic’s entry was discreetly voiced by distributors expressing dissatisfaction with the amounts being proffered for the rights required, in tandem with its competitive agenda as a producer/seller.

As to how the competition played out on the market floor, Telefilm’s Ginette Coutu, performing a financial analyst/business affairs intelligence-gathering mission, confirmed the ‘more broadcasters, no more money’ equation observations of many attending the market.

It was CBC International Sales’ fifth year with a presence at the market, and first year with its own two-person stand. Susan Hewitt, head of sales, London office, says that with cbc’s substantial output of docs each year, ‘we needed to release new programs throughout the year,’ and can’t wait six months from mip to mip where programs can get lost in the hurly burly of the Cannes mega-markets.

Presales were sought for two projects just into production, Grizzlies of the Canadian Rockies: Saving the Great Bear, and from The Nature of Things, Labrador, centred on caribou. Both presold to u.s. Discovery.

Hewitt reports prices holding steady for doc fare in major territories, and on the encouraging side, there are several interested parties in any given territory for desirable fare, and such was the fate of Grizzly and Hunting Bobby Oatway, a Witness doc by John Kastner about the victims’ and community reaction to the parole of a convicted pedophile which was sold to Channel 4, as well as its House of Secrets parole system sequel.

On the less encouraging distribution side, Hewitt notes the trend for terrestrial channels to produce more themselves leaving few hours of acquisition for main strands, exacerbated by the fondness for output deals with other natural history producers.

Great North’s Nola Wuttunee and Patricia Phillips were among the handful of Canadians at the market. Commenting on things getting tighter and tighter as broadcasters need to have more territories, Phillips also noted more money going to original production as the ec-conscious broadcasters assure regional representation in their lineups, and less coproduction going on. Although one delegate from Great North will continue to attend Sunny Side, Phillips, senior vp & head of creative affairs, says it won’t be another team effort. ‘I’m not certain of the value of Marseilles, it’s very European, we see a lot of what’s happening here at mip.’

The nfb’s executive producer Don Haig and international program director Joanne Leduc saw a battle between France 2 and TF1 for Charles Konowal and J’e MacDonald’s Glimmer of Hope, about parents who confront the murderer of their child, Swiss tv snapped up the turtles love life saga Creatures of the Sun by director/dop Susan Trow and producers Tim Latchem and Kent Martin, and lots of interest was bestown Les Desoccupes, a doc by Raymonde LeTourneau and Nicole Lamothe about people who recreate their life after a midlife job loss ­ yet in the same breath report prices going down for the last few years, explaining that while some broadcasters pay half of what they used to, the specialty channels offset the shortfall. Leduc reports selling more to the likes of Arte and France 2, whose buyers were blanketing Marseille.

Sharing a booth with Cinema Libre and The Multimedia Group, Films Transit, a Sunny Side veteran, was embroiled in non-stop meetings.

Cinema Libre’s Daniel Bouchard had a film in the festival, Jean Chabot’s Notre Dame des Chevaux, and also had a good market, especially valuable for contacts with buyers from AB Sat, who were encouragingly looking for ‘quality and quantity’, and entree to several Arte buyers. Sales were also forthcoming, to the likes of Israel tv, brtn in the Netherlands and France’s Odyssee.

As a first-time exhibitor, Michel Roy of Multimedia encountered more small producers looking to coproduce than buyers with real needs. Although some buyers told him they like Marseilles because they can take the time and drop by without an appointment, Roy says, ‘with mipdoc starting up, I don’t think we will be back next year.’

On the other hand, the market reported many newcomers from eu countries attending, and numerous umbrella stands, including Israel and the Nordic countries. Furthering the efforts of a pan European info exchange and product circulation, the European Documentary Catalogue was released, listing 1,600 docs and 400 rights holders, distributors and producers.

Of Media ii’s distribution funding, 30% g’es to docs, which travel very well, contrary to fiction, according to Robert Strasser. In terms of production funding, 32% are documentaries, which receive 27% of the funding, with France and the u.k. at the top of the list.

On the festival side, retrospectives were given to Robert Kramer, Jean-marie Straub and Daniele Huillet, and tributes were to Krzysztof Kieslowski and Canada’s Jacques Godbout. Canada’s Cynthia Scott was president of the international jury, and her film The Company of Strangers was the closing night screening.

The Grand Prix was awarded to Free Fall by Peter Forgacs of Hungary, which also won the prix Image de La Culture. Culture prize special mention went to Ken Loach’s Les Dockers de Liverpool, the Flickering Flame. The art film award went to the 245-minute Amsterdam Global Village by Johan van der Keuken. The Prix du Public went to Patricio Guzman’s Chile, Memoria Obstinada, a La Sept/Arte, nfb, wdr, rtbf coproduction by Les Films d’Ici. The Planete Cable award went to Jeckes, German Jews in Israel, from Germany’s Egoli Films/Jens Meurer. The prix jeune public jury chose Meres Ameres by France’s Bania Medjbar as its winner.

In 1998 the festival and market will be held three weeks earlier, due to Marseilles hosting World Cup Soccer. Sunny Side general manager Olivier Masson joked that reskedding the World Cup was discussed or moving it to Cannes in April. As to the inevitable ‘what about mipdoc?’ query, Masson, unfazed replies, ‘unfortunately we gave a good idea to mip.’ Masson opines the Doc focus at the next mip-tv will not adversely affect Sunny Side, which has a one-on-one, one-off focus. ‘Content, quality and exchange of information are the hallmarks of Sunny Side. mip is the supermarket of the audio visual industry, you need to go to the supermarket, but you also need to go to the delicatessen.’