Edinburgh International Film Festival has been named as one of the top five film events in the world for film industry professionals to do business.

This is the conclusion of a survey, briefly reported in Netribution last week, commissioned by Scottish Enterprise Edinburgh to examine how the festival can be further developed. It is hoped it might be expandable into an all-year round service, using the internet.

The survey questioned some of the worlds leading film buyers and sellers and found that those working in the international industry see the EIFF as a prime venue for conducting business. The festival’s exceptional track record in finding films that go on to become major commercial hits, or find distributors after being screened at the festival, have led to the event becoming a key date in the film professional’s calendar.

As a result of the survey the festival is now looking at ways to expand its reach using the internet.