As the Atlantic Film Festival reflects on the past to note its achievements and staying power during its silver anniversary edition, its international coproduction conference sidekick, Strategic Partners, returns to its roots as well, welcoming delegates from Germany to the conference, as it did during its first event eight years ago.

Much has changed for Strategic Partners from the first time a handful of Germans and Canadians converged in Halifax to talk shop and potential deals in 1998. SP director Jan Miller recalls about 70 delegates being involved that first year. This year, Strategic Partners has 160 delegates coming, including 17 filmmakers from Germany, 27 from the U.K., and about 20 Americans. Miller says the number of international attendees is almost equal to the number of Canadians signed up for the event.

And although the focus is largely on international opportunity, Miller adds that Canadian producers get a chance to connect at SP as well, and talk of interprovincial copros there is not uncommon.

‘We have 10 producers coming from B.C., five from Alberta, 10 from Ontario and five from Quebec,’ says Miller. ‘It’s an exciting coming-together of producers from across the country.’

Strategic Partners has led to some significant international collaborations in its young life. The CBC/RTE series Atlantic Sound – a copro between Newfoundland’s Pope Productions and Ireland’s Grand Pictures – originated out of SP, as did The River King, a feature coproduction between the U.K.’s Spice Factory and Halifax’s imX communications, which will screen at the AFF on Sept. 19 (see story, p.30). Just last year, SP facilitated a meeting between Big Motion Pictures’ Wayne Grigsby of Halifax and Alchemy TV’s Simon Vaughan from the U.K., which ultimately resulted in the latter picking up the international distribution rights for BMP’s CBC mini Trudeau.

BMP, Alchemy, Spice Factory and imX will all be back this year as well.

Strategic Partners began after Miller left the National Screen Institute in Edmonton – an organization she founded – and moved to Nova Scotia in 1997, flirting with the idea of creating a Canadian international coproduction market. After meeting then-AFF executive director Gordon Whittaker, who had a similar vision, Miller began attending international film markets and consulting producers about what they would find useful in such an event.

The conference was originally intended to be separate from the AFF, but both sides saw the mutual benefits of running the two together. It has since developed into an internationally renowned coproduction market, focusing on film and television partnerships involving North America, the U.K. and one annual featured country. The reputation earned by SP is that of a well-organized and effective industry event taking place in a relaxed and informal setting.

Miller and her SP cohorts have put together a number of keynotes and panels to add further value to this year’s event. Highlights on the 2005 menu include an opening keynote from Bull’s Eye Entertainment’s Cathy Schulman – producer of Paul Haggis’ Crash and AFF special presentation Thumbsucker ­- about the importance of being unique in one’s independent filmmaking endeavors, and not pandering to the generic.

In the same vein will be the Alternative Distribution – Don’t Print That panel featuring Film Finders’ Sydney Levine, International Film Circuit’s Wendy Lidell, Emerging Pictures’ Ira Deutchman and others discussing ways of getting less conventional independent films seen on screens through digital distribution.

‘This is about how the producer can creatively put packages together,’ says Miller.

Also featured is a panel called Get Reel: Breaking the Agency Paradigm, moderated by Channel 4 Films’ Peter Carlton, including producers Martin Katz (Hotel Rwanda), Marco Mehlitz (The Devil’s Rejects) and Paul Donovan (The Conclave) in discussion about getting independent features made without public funding, and a keynote by Karl Baumgartner of Frankurt-based distribution company Pandora Films, which has helped emerging filmmakers penetrate the German market.

Germany is again becoming an important partner for Canadians since the bottom fell out of the market there several years ago. Some recent German/Canadian coproductions include Donovan’s The Conclave and Uwe Boll’s Dungeon Siege, currently in production in B.C. with Brightlight Pictures.

The focal countries for Strategic Partners in 2006 will be Australia, New Zealand and South Africa. Filmmakers and government types from each are slated to attend this year, with Miller going to visit the countries in February, creating awareness and drumming up support among producers, with the local attendees from SP ’05 there to back her up.

Strategic Partners will run from Sept. 16-18, over the opening weekend of the AFF. Most keynotes and panel discussions will take place in the Bluenose Room of the Delta Halifax.