Delegations from 40 countries attended, including Australia, Spain, Brazil, Canada, Nigeria, and China.
Everybody is telling me they had great meetings, concrete meetings.
Theres a kind of atmosphere in La Rochelle, were graced with a beautiful sunshine for three days.
Sunny Side of the Doc in La Rochelle, FranceCourtesy of Sunny Side/Jean-François Augé/Hugo Lafitte/Paul Pelletier
And it does help.
It makes Sunny Sidesunny.
So, the feedback right now is extremely positive.
Sunny Side of the DocCourtesy of Sunny Side/Jean-François Augé/Hugo Lafitte/Paul Pelletier
Macron called new legislative elections for France, which will begin at the end of the month.
Right wing parties have gained increasing support in Germany, the Netherlands, and Spain.
And in the U.S., Donald Trump is running to regain the presidency, appealing to nativist sentiment.
After he came to power, he muzzled independent media.
Trump, meanwhile, has consistently sought to discredit the news media.
Bejot alluded to that context in a statement issued at Sunny Sides closing.
Bejot expanded on that in an interview with Deadline as Sunny Side wrapped.
Its on everybodys mind, he said of political developments on the continent and elsewhere.
So, its going to be tough.
Its going to be a hard fight.
The state of the industry is a little bleak at the moment, Bejot said.
Contraction seems to be the buzzword that everybody uses.
Private broadcasters see a lot of their advertising revenue go to the digital world.
So theres a lot of pressure coming from all directions.
He added, Financing is getting extremely complicated.
Getting shows on air is more and more complicated as well.
True to its name, however, Sunny Side maintains its optimism.
The key to get content made in Europe and other parts of the world is through co-production.
So any ambitious projects which comes with an ambitious budget requires international co-production.
But I think international co-production goes way beyond a simple financial arrangement.
And I think thats really the way for a successful international production.
Adding a similarly hopeful note is Reman, Sunny Sides managing director.
Sunny Side will return for its 36thedition next year.
And where did Sunny Side get its unusual name?
Bejot solved that mystery for us.
They were great fans of jazz and On the Sunny Side of the Street.
And they tried to be positive, Bejot said.
They created this market because they believed in international production.
The market started near the harbor of Marseille as well.
