Laura Houlgatte: Celebs Rumors

Ben Croll The walls of Barcelona’s international convention center might soon rattle once the 4,000 European exhibitors, suppliers and service providers in town for the CineEurope trade show breathe out a collective sigh of relief. At the root of such succor are Europe’s more than encouraging box-office admissions, which saw a marked uptick in late 2022 and have continued to rise into the new year. “I think this edition will be very much about celebrating because 2022 was a much better year than 2021,” says Laura Houlgatte, CEO of the Intl. Union of Cinemas (UNIC), which tends to the needs of cinema trade associations and exhibitors across the old continent. “[What’s more] the numbers for the first quarter of 2023 have left everyone in a very good mood.”

Elsa Keslassy International CorrespondentStudiocanal CEO Anna Marsh has been named International Distributor of the Year at CineEurope, the exhibition conference which is taking place this week in Barcelona. Andrew Sunshine, president of CineEurope organizer Film Expo Group, said Marsh “defines what an executive is and is well respected throughout our industry.”“Anna is a natural leader who has helped take Studiocanal — the European leader in the production and distribution of features films and TV series — to the next level and could not be more deserving of this award,” continued Sunshine.Laura Houlgatte, CEO of UNIC, the international guild of exhibitors, pointed that Studiocanal “remains a crucial partner of European cinema exhibition and has shown itself to be fully committed to bring the best of European films to the big screen.” Marsh, a New Zealand-born executive who graduated from the prestigious French business school HEC and began her career working in sales at Tele Images Productions and TF1 International, joined Studiocanal in 2008 as VP of international sales.

Christopher Vourlias With a slate of summer blockbusters just around the corner, European exhibitors are hoping Hollywood tentpoles can fuel a post-pandemic rebound for their beleaguered industry. But a bumpy and uneven recovery across the continent suggests the theater business isn’t quite out of the woods yet.How to get the industry back to pre-pandemic levels is the burning question that will lead the agenda when industry executives gather in Barcelona for CineEurope, which runs June 20-23.