Atom Egoyan, one of Charlotte Mickie’s biggest fans, says there’s a cult built up around the veteran feature film sales executive, one who has left an indelible stamp on the industry she has served for 23 years.

‘People adore working with Charlotte,’ he enthuses, adding, ‘They feel smart and connected when they’re around her because she has such an extraordinary personality.’

Mickie – currently EVP of international sales and acquisitions at E1 Films International – has acquired, launched and sold dozens of Canadian and independent films worldwide during her impressive career, including Egoyan’s Oscar-nominated The Sweet Hereafter, the late Jean-Claude Lauzon’s Leolo, Patricia Rozema’s When Night Is Falling and Michael Moore’s Bowling for Columbine.

But the self-effacing Mickie insists she still gets intimated when she steps into the Palais at the Cannes Film Festival – an event she has attended for the past 20 years.

‘[It’s that] same sensation that I always have at Cannes, which is ‘What the hell am I doing here?” says Mickie, who has negotiated umpteen deals for various titles at the prestigious French fête.

The sales exec started out in 1984 as a receptionist at RSL Films – the shingle of producer Robert Lantos – which became Alliance Communications. Mickie, along with TV colleague Rola Zayed, helped establish Alliance’s foreign sales division, Alliance International. The company turned into media conglomerate Alliance Atlantis Communications when it merged with Michael MacMillan’s Atlantis Communications in 1998.

Mickie quickly moved up at AAC, and held a variety of roles, mostly related to international sales of theatrical motion pictures.

Moore’s Bowling for Columbine landed in Mickie’s lap when, in 2001, Alliance purchased Halifax prodco Salter Street Films, which developed and produced the documentary feature. Mickie recalls the frenzy that Columbine invoked at Cannes in 2002, even before the film screened, adding that they never expected to get it into the festival in the first place. ‘We couldn’t have possibly imagined how it was going to explode; it was a really exciting experience… we sold it all over the world,’ she remembers. Columbine garnered numerous accolades, including the 2003 Academy Award for best doc feature.

Mickie left Alliance in 2004 to join Paris-based Celluloid Dreams in its Toronto office, though she was rehired by Lantos three years later when he started up distributor Maximum Films. (Maximum was acquired by E1 Entertainment last year.)

The ‘idiosyncratic’ business of selling feature films has become more challenging in the past few years, according to Mickie, who says it’s important to be adaptable to the exciting but uncertain sector.

‘My ideas about how this business works are always changing. I’m more proactive about selling than I used to be… I think I hassle people more than I used to,’ she explains, adding, ‘You have to be imaginative, creative and find new approaches’ to things.

‘Part of my job is to give [distributors] reasons to say ‘yes’ as opposed to ‘no’.’

It all begins with great writing at the script stage – which is often the point where Mickie becomes involved in a project – but she says an established or promising director and good cast are all-important ‘marketable elements,’ pointing to Vic Sarin’s 2008 film Shine of Rainbows as an example. E1 has the worldwide rights to the Canadian/Irish copro, which stars Connie Nielsen and Aidan Quinn – set to be released later this year.

The sales exec lists Guy Maddin’s My Winnipeg as one of the ‘extraordinary experiences’ of her career, because the eccentric, ‘rarified’ art-house film became so popular with audiences.

‘It’s a very singular, very artistic vision, but people responded… we actually sold it very well and it made quite a decent box office for a really idiosyncratic movie,’ she says.

In 1991, Mickie met Egoyan through his drama The Adjuster, and embarked on a long collaboration and friendship with the filmmaker, whom she calls a ‘great artist and exceptional human being.’ She recently sold Egoyan’s Cannes competitor Adoration to territories including the U.K., Australia and Germany.

Egoyan has only praise for Mickie, who he says has the difficult position of being a sales person in an incredibly fickle market. ‘She knows the value of what she’s selling and firmly believes in it, and that’s what makes her so special,’ he offers.

The sales veteran is in ‘her element’ when she is at a festival dinner where high-powered decisions are being made, according to Egoyan.

‘We’ve had some incredibly complicated negotiations with very, very aggressive people. But she’s just able to diffuse and balance [the situation] and make everyone feel that they’re being attended to,’ he explains.

Mickie notes her passion for film and filmmakers grew from her love of the arts and business, and ‘how those two [universes] intersect.’

‘I really try to be filmmaker-friendly. I think I get what [filmmakers] are trying to do and what is important to them, and I hope I help them to realize their dream,’ she says.

Et Cetera…

• Born and raised in Montreal
• Has a passion for clothes: converted one of the bedrooms in her apartment into a closet
• Owns over 200 pairs of shoes (explains above)
• Attended the 1997 Academy Awards for The Sweet Hereafter
• Has done numerous deals on napkins
• Is an avid collector of contemporary art, including works by Stephen Andrews, Arnaud Maggs, Janieta Eyre
• Has served on the boards of Toronto’s The Power Plant Contemporary Art Gallery and arts-minded C Magazine