For the past 16 years, thousands of film distributors, buyers, sales agents, media representatives and members of the Hollywood community have ventured to Santa Monica in the end of February to attend the largest film market in the world. This year's nine-day American Film Market (AFM) started on February 29 at the Loews Santa Monica Beach Hotel and is expected to be the largest market to date.

The Internet Entertainment Network is among a growing number of media organizations covering various aspects of AFM. It costs an arm and a leg to get to the AFM ($9,500 for an exhibitor pass, $750 for an accredited buyer or non-exhibitor pass, $250 for a looky-loo day pass), so we'll give you an on-line taste of the world's pre-eminent motion picture trade event free of charge.

Reporter turned entertainment attorney Mark Vega has profiled more than two dozen exhibitors, buyers and other attendees of the 1996 American Film Market as well as compiled reports on each of the five seminars from the AFM series "The Independent Vision." Each of the profiles gives an insight not only into the company's current sales operations, but also the attitudes, personalities and spirit of the people who run some of the most interesting companies doing business in the film world today.

• AFM 1996 - Day One Report
  
  • The People and the Place
    
  • The Variety of Films
    
  • The Host: American Film Marketing Association

• AFM 1996 - Day Two Report
  
  • Producers Warned to Protect Themselves By Learning About A.D.R.
    

• AFM 1996 - Day Three Report
  
  • Communist and Non-Communist Vietnamese Meet to Speak the International Language of Film

• AFM 1996 - Day Four Report
  
  • Film Finders Is on Patrol and Living Up to Its Name

• AFM 1996 - Day Five Report
  
  • Eclectic Group of Directors Share Insights, Critiques and Suggestions for the Independent Filmmaking Community

• AFM 1996 - Day Six Report
  
  • Top Producers Focussed on Avoidable Budget Levels, Story Integrity, Women's Films and Submission Quantities During "Producing the Independent Vision" Seminar

• AFM 1996 - Day Seven Report
  
  • Eclectic Panel of Distributors Agree That Domestic Theatrical Release May Drive the Train But That Marketing, Festival Exposure and a Bottleneck at the Exhibitors' Level Provide Lots of Wear and Tear on the Engine

• AFM 1996 - Day Eight Report
  
  • Saving the Best for Last, the Final 1996 AFM Seminar Focussed on the Fundamental Issue of Independent Film Finance

Company & Market Profiles:

1. Artist View Entertainment
2. Brimstone Entertainment
3. Century Film Partners
4. Dream Entertainment
5. HandMade Films
6. Live Entertainment
7. MIDIA '96
8. Miramax International
9. Movie Reps International
10. Nu Image
11. Overseas Film Group/First Look Pictures
12. Producers on the Floor
    • Jim Aitken - Best of Times Productions - Boomtown Productions - Dan Demorest - Galaxie Entertainment Company - Jo Ann King - Thom Pawlowski - Stonefield Productions - Stoneguard Development Company - Upper Middlebrow Films - The Writing Team of Rubin & Jarvis
13. Promark Entertainment Group
14. Sellers Posed as Buyers
15. Silver Lake International Pictures
16. Sogepaq International
17. Spanish Film Productions and AFM Presence
18. Sunset Filmes (of Brazil)
19. Sunset Films International
20. Trans-Atlantic Entertainment
21. Trident Releasing, Inc.
22. Trimark Pictures International
23. Troma, Inc.
24. Virtual Film Market

Scouting the Universe for the Best in Motion Pictures