Neon’s Tom Quinn, Mk2’s Nathanaël Karmitz, and former Netflix and Universal executive David Kosse stopped by Deadline’s Zurich Summit studio in recent days to discuss the indie film business and what’s coming up for them.
The trio of executives started out by taking a temp check on the health of the cinema landscape today. Cinema owner and producer Karmitz and distributor Quinn expressed enthusiasm for the appetite for cinema among the youth demographic. “Cinema is alive and well”, asserted Quinn, who recently scored success with horror pic Longlegs.
Kosse, now an independent producer, sounded a note of caution, however, that cinema may not have the central position in the “cultural conversation” that it once did: “I think we’re still suffering from years of studios leaning into IP and safer bets”, he mused.
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Karmitz described the French ecosystem as “resilient”: “Right now the market share for French movies is nearly 50%. All over the world, we’re seeing the less a country depends on Hollywood movies, the quicker it comes back to pre-pandemic levels [of audience engagement]. France has proven the efficiency of its it’s protective system.”
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Quinn went on to discuss the Oscar prospects of movies on his slate including Palme d’Or winner Anora and fellow Cannes critical hit The Seed Of The Sacred Fig.
He described the former as a big box office prospect and awards player: “Four of the last five Palme d’Or winners have been Best Picture nominees, they were also best director and screenplay nominees, and two of them won best screenplay…if you’re looking at numbers, it looks great.”
Kosse added that he has been working on a slate of action and thriller-oriented movies with Amazon’s UK division, with whom he struck a deal with a while ago, and looking to work with filmmakers he had built a relationship with over his years as a studio executive.
The three executives rounded out the chat by highlighting a film or TV series they’ve watched recently that blew them away.
Check out the video above.