Episode #003 of The Sideletters tackles the uproars on the Berlinale jury statement, major industry consolidation moves, and César Awards predictions.

This Week:

• The "stay out of politics" remark that sparked industry backlash - and how legacy and social media picked it up, and certain politicians weaponized it within hours
• Paramount’s and Netflix's aggressive play for Warner Bros. assets and what it means for European markets
• a fresh report by McKinsey on the impact of AI in the film & TV industries
• César predictions: Best Film, Best Foreign Film

Hosted by Jennifer Sabbah-Immagine (Paris), Joanna Szymanska (Warsaw, and Fabian Massah (Berlin/Hamburg).

→ McKinsey Report on the impact of AI in Film & TV

The Sideletters is a weekly European B2B conversation on film, tech & future business. New episodes every Wednesday.

👉 Connect with The Sideletters community on ⁠LinkedIn⁠

Note: We just started. Still fine-tuning our sound.

Episode #002 of The Sideletters comes to you live from the European Film Market and Berlinale 2026!

This week, Fabian Massah and Joanna Szymanska report directly from the EFM, with Joanna - whose film “Dust” premiered in Competition - delivering a personal dispatch from the market floor, and Fabian sitting down with Yohann Comte, co-founder and chairman of French sales company Charades.

Joanna reflects on:

• The jury press conference controversy: Did cinema really get told to "stay out of politics"?
• Why this year's festival feels different: from survival mode to building mode
• The return of transmedia strategy and "liquid IP"
• AI conversations: getting practical vs. the hype
• The Agora EU threat to Creative Europe's MEDIA Programme
• Audience fragmentation isn't the problem - discovery is

In Conversation with Yohann Comte (Charades): Charades has “A New Dawn” by Yoshitoshi Shinomiya premiering in Competition tonight. Yohann discusses:

• The relevance of animation titles in their portfolio
• Genre trends: What's selling vs. what's struggling
• How Charades are navigating within the streaming-theatrical balance
• Their approach to director-driven projects over IP-driven content
• Why curation matters more than ever in an oversaturated market

→ Film i Väst

→ Charades

The Sideletters is a weekly European B2B conversation on film, tech & future business. New episodes every Wednesday.

👉 Connect with The Sideletters community on ⁠LinkedIn⁠

Note: We just started. Still fine-tuning our sound.

Finally, white smoke in Berlin! After years of uncertainty, the new German Film Law is here. In this episode, we break down what the new 8% investment obligation means for Netflix, RTL, and ZDF - and why the numbers might not be as scary for them as they look. And above all: What does it mean for producers?

Then, we head to Potsdamer Platz. With the European Film Market (EFM) kicking off this week, we sit down with Tanja Meissner (Director of Berlinale Pro) to get the inside track.

In this episode, Jennifer Sabbah-Immagine (Paris), Joanna Szymanska (Warsaw), and Fabian Massah (Berlin/Hamburg), discuss:

Boosting the incentive volume to 250m EUR, including a rights escalator for producers: Is one of the biggest European markets finally competitive again?

The Investment Quotas: We run the math on broadcasters and streamers.

EFM 2026 Preview: From the future of Indie Film to the AI-driven tools in the Innovation Lab. What to expect for the 12,000 film industry professionals landing in Berlin. And how the EFM amidst its focus on technical innovation, always keeps the human in the centre.

→ EFM Event Schedule

→ EFM Industry Insights Podcast

→ German Film Law (from The Spot, German language)

👉 Connect with The Sideletters community on ⁠LinkedIn⁠

Note: We just started. Still fine-tuning our sound.

Is the independent film model broken, or is it just changing hands? In this pilot episode of The Sideletters, we look at the numbers that confused the industry this week.

While Sharon Waxman (The Wrap/NYT) writes about the "Death of Indie Film" post-Sundance, two "independent" films just stormed the US Box Office top 3: The controversial Melania documentary and the YouTube-creator-led horror Iron Lung.

Joanna Szymanska (Warsaw), Jennifer Sabbah-Immagine (Paris) and Fabian Massah (Berlin/Hamburg), analyze the divide between the US hype and the European reality.

In this episode:

• Joanna reports back from a screening of Melania. Why the documentary grossed $7M in the US, and hardly had any impact in European cinemas.

-> The Guardian on Melania

-> Sharon Waxman in the NY Times

👉 Connect with The Sideletters community on LinkedIn

Note: This is our pilot recording. We are fine-tuning our sound, but the insights were too hot to wait.