On Sunday we attended one of the IFB's Panel Events in the Irish Pavilion "Death of A Salesman? A debate on the international distribution landscape for independent film".

This was an excellent informative panel ably chaired by Simon Perry (Chief Executive, Irish Film Board), who probed four industry insiders: Nicki Parfitt (co-Managing Director, Goalpost Films), Kathleen Drumm (Head of Sales and Marketing, NZ Films), Dan Griffiths (SVP Trans-Pacific Media Consultants) and Eamonn Bowles (President Magnolia Pictures & Magnet Releasing).

According to the Panel although the economic crisis had made securing funding difficult, it had also had the effect of "cleansing" the industry of poor quality products. Eamonn Bowles was particularly enlightening on the role of Video on Demand in raising revenues prior to theatrical release, on a sliding scale of charges based on proximity of release date.