The NZFC's Chris Payne was in Rotterdam for CineMart 2011, where he had the opportunity to get some feedback from Marit van den Elshout (Head of Industry & CineMart) to help explain why, for the second year running, no New Zealand project was selected for the market. These were the main points she made:
1. Commercial vs. Art House: Many projects were simply too commercial in focus, without a sufficient degree of alignment with CineMart's strong art house focus.
2. Director's Voice: The director's statement was often not strong enough in conveying the clarity of their authorial vision for the project.
3. Market Strategy: Many applications did not present a sufficiently detailed and compelling strategy and set of desired outcomes to warrant selection.
For further detail on the first of these two points, it is worth listening to 2010's recorded Skype conversation between Marilyn Milgrom and Marit van den Elshout.