At the Zurich Film Festival Summit, Oscar-winning filmmaker Edward Berger and FilmNation Entertainment founder Glen Basner participated in a public session celebrating Basner’s Game Changer award. The honor recognized Basner’s track record of supporting acclaimed independent films and his influence within the industry.
During their discussion, Berger and Basner reflected extensively on their collaboration on “Conclave,” the Vatican thriller starring Ralph Fiennes. Berger recounted the film’s development process, noting his initial anxiety when the project had sold in most international territories but lacked U.S. distribution at the Cannes market. He described wanting to premiere at Venice Film Festival, but Basner advised against rushing the film’s completion. Both Basner and producer Tessa Ross felt the film needed further refinement, though no one could articulate what was missing.
After testing screenings with select audiences yielded middling results, the team chose to delay rather than accelerate toward a festival premiere. Berger credited this decision-making approach to lessons learned during his and Basner’s early careers at independent production company Good Machine. Berger ultimately acknowledged that Basner’s caution proved correct, and the producer insisted on spending remaining budget to enhance the final product. This patience and willingness to iterate led to the film’s eventual world premiere at Telluride before its theatrical release through Focus Features.
Basner explained his philosophy of backing films that resonate creatively while trusting filmmakers to achieve their vision on their own timeline. He emphasized providing directors space and support rather than imposing solutions. At the current Zurich Film Festival, Basner is producing three films in the lineup, including Florian Zeller’s “Bunker” with Javier Bardem and Penélope Cruz, and “I Play Rocky.”
Article Attribution | Read More at Article Source
Article summary produced by Claude AI