Connext congress, promoting Flemish film and TV productions, kicks off in Antwerp
A record number of international film and television professionals will visit Antwerp on Monday and Tuesday for Connext Antwerp, the export platform for audiovisual creations of Flanders Image, the export arm of the VAF (Flemish Audiovisual Fund). The aim of the event is to get local talent and content from Flanders and Brussels on the radar of festival curators, rights sellers, distributors, broadcasters and streamers internationally much earlier.
The first edition of Connext in Antwerp has a record number of foreign participants: on 30 September, the counter already stood at 120 registered international guests, compared to the previous record of 104 in 2019 in Ghent. Streaming services in particular are seeing a significant increase, with delegations from Disney+, Netflix, Dutch Videoland/RTL and Mubi. There are also more festivals and rights sellers (sales agents) present. In addition, some 150 Flemish professionals will make their appearance in Antwerp, as well as young, up-and-coming talent.
Besides new feature films and series, both fiction and non-fiction, Connext is showing four immersive projects for the first time this year as a test. Connext Online will also go live, the web platform that served as an alternative to the on-site event during the two previous editions. On Monday evening, the 10th anniversary of the economic fund Screen Flanders will be celebrated.
The organisation also announced that, in addition to Connext On-site in Antwerp and Connext Online, a third event will take place in the spring of next year: the travelling Connext On Tour, which will be hosted by the British Film Institute in London in 2023. Connext On Tour should make it possible to have an annual presence at an international festival with a highly focused, thematic programme. "It will not be a carbon copy of what already exists, but a completion of the Connext concept," the organisation says.
(TOM)
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© BELGA PHOTO THIERRY ROGE