The Berlinale is coming to a close and the exhibitors at the European Film Market are starting to pack their stuff after one full week of fruitful exchanges between buyers, sellers and institutions. The building that hosted most of the companies, the Martin-Gropius-Bau, is still teeming with life as people are meeting in the huge atrium around cups of coffee, as the weather is so freezing outside, taking time to marvel at the wonderful structure inspired by Italian Renaissance. Watching this interior, the mosaics representing scenes of different German regions and arts, it's hard to realize that the building bears the name of the grandfather of Walter Gropius who founded the Bauhaus movement. When the Berlinale will be over on Monday, the majestic place will become again the luxurious exhibition center for art, photography and architecture it has been since 1999 after hosting an ethnological museum between 1922 and the Second World War.
A few blocks away, facing the main EFM building, Wild Bunch still proudly stands on a no-man's land assuring itself by the way maximum visibility for those ready for the walk outside.
Even further away, but closer to the Berlinale Palast, at the 5th floor of the Price Waterhouse Coopers building, most of the 40 companies or associations present there are preparing to leave after having closed their last deals.
The most successful deals include documentaries like Morgan Spurlock Untitled sold worldwide by Wild Bunch or feature-length movies like Inside sold by Celluloid Dreams among so many others.
Olivier Delesse