11 European films have been confirmed by European Film Promotion's (EFP) members to receive Film Sales Support (FSS) at North America's prestigious Sundance Film Festival. FSS, which is EFP's support scheme for European sales agents, is entering year 8 in 2011. With the continuous financial support of the MEDIA Programme of the European Union, FSS has been influential in helping bring European cinema to audiences around the world, in particular to North and South America.

To have been chosen for Sundance, puts an extra spotlight on the films. As Ben Roberts, CEO of Protagonist Pictures (UK) points out: "A Sundance premiere really helps us raise the profile of a film significantly among international distributors and festivals alike. This could not happen without EFP's Film Sales Support, which enables us to extend our PR and promotional efforts at the festival further than our normal festival budgets would allow. For us, this has resulted in greater awareness of the films during the festival itself and at the markets that follow, and crucially, is reflected in sales."

Seven feature films and four documentaries are at the receiving end of the FSS marketing support which covers up to 50% of costs for a publicist, the production of publicity material or ads in the trades. The films are being represented by seven different European sales agents and three production companies.

UK sales agents, Icon Entertainment and Metropolis International sales are new to FSS and will be respectively representing their films, Project Nim by James Marsh and The Guard by John Michael McDonagh at the festival. Further beneficiaries of the easy-to-access financial incentive are Wide Management (representing The Mill And The Cross by Lech Majewski), Hanway (representing Life In A Day by Kevin MacDonald), Protagonist Pictures (promoting Tyrannosaur by Paddy Considine), TrustNordisk (with Perfect Sense by David Mackenzie and Happy Happy by Anne Sewitsky) as well as The Match Factory (representing Attenberg by Athina Rachel Tsangari).

Three films are being represented by their producers: Beak Street Films will be in Sundance to promote David Sington's film, The Flaw, Dreamer Joint Venture are travelling to the festival with Ali Samedi Ahadi's The Green Wave and Sarah Films is promoting Amor Hakkar's A Few Days of Respite.

Supported Films and Companies

Beak Street Films (UK)
The Flaw by David Sington, UK 2010
World Cinema Documentary Competition

Dreamer Joint Venture (Germany)
The Green Wave by Ali Samadi Ahadi, Germany 2010
World Cinema Documentary Competition

Hanway Films (UK)
Life In A Day by Kevin MacDonald, UK 2010

Icon Entertainment (UK)
Project Nim by James Marsh, UK 2010
World Cinema Dramatic Competition

Metropolis International Sales (UK)
The Guard by John Michael McDonagh, Ireland/UK 2010
World Cinema Dramatic Competition

Protagonist Pictures (UK)
Tyrannosaur by Paddy Considine, UK 2010
World Cinema Dramatic Competition

Sarah Films (France)
A Few Days Of Respite (Quelques jours de répit) by Amor Hakkar, France/Algeria 2010
World Cinema Dramatic Competition

The Match Factory (Germany)
Attenberg by Athina Rachel Tsangari, Greece 2010

TrustNordisk (Denmark)
Happy Happy (Sykt Lykkelig) by Anne Sewitsky, Norway, 2010
World Cinema Dramatic Competition

Perfect Sense by David Mackenzie, UK 2010

Wide Management (France)
The Mill And The Cross (Młyn i krzyż) by Lech Majewski, Poland/Sweden 2011

The films were confirmed by the following EFP member organisations: German Films, Greek Film Centre, The British Council, The Irish Film Board, The Norwegian Film Institute, The Polish Film Institute, Unifrance.