Spinning off of our #BerlinalePeople series, #GoetheTO is presenting a special edition of mini profiles of media industry influencers related to the Frankfurt Book Fair, which hosts Canada as a guest country of honour in 2020 and 2021. Meet the President and CEO of the Frankfurt Book Fair; the initiator of international partnerships and coordinator of the Frankfurt Book Fair's Book-to-Film activities at the Berlinale and Cannes; and the head of the Advisory Board Film @ Book Fair and Director of the DFF - Deutsches (German) Film Institute & Film Museum in Frankfurt.
Name & role: Juergen Boos, President and CEO of Frankfurt Book Fair since 2005. President of LITPROM (Society for the Promotion of African, Asian and Latin American Literature). Member of German Book Prize Academy and the Scientific Committee of Sheikh Zayed Book Award.
Dear Juergen Boos, you’ve been credited with (and occasionally criticized for) turning the Frankfurt Book Fair into a content and creative industries fair, including initiatives such as Books at Berlinale and the transmedia conference StoryDrive. Why are cross-media exchange and digital cross-over —as highlighted in the Frankfurt Book Fair's ARTS+ section bridging film, gaming, media and books— so central to your business plan and which role do you foresee for audiovisual storytelling moving forward post-Covid?
The film, television, and gaming industries have always mined books for stories to develop. By bringing film/TV industries and gaming together with publishers through these initiatives, we are helping to facilitate stronger relationships between industries, which are beneficial to all, and expand the reach of stories by opening them up to new audiences. In the last several years, even before the pandemic, the audiobook industry and streaming video industries both grew exponentially. The pandemic further solidified the growth of these industries and their need for content. I think, even post-Covid, both industries will continue to be popular.
Canada is guest country of honour in Frankfurt 2020/21. What sets the Canadian book and media market apart, what do you see as Canada's unique value proposition in a global market?
The Canadian Guest of Honour programme is entitled “Singular plurality – Singulier pluriel.” It reflects the wide range of Canadian talent from diverse backgrounds. As a large country with two official languages, French and English, and storytellers that represent French, English, and Indigenous communities, Canada has a rich diversity of stories to share, which I think is of incredible interest to the global market.
Vice versa: What added value can Frankfurt Book Fair initiatives bring to the North American media industry?
The Frankfurt Book Fair initiatives help shine a global spotlight on the Canadian market. By providing a platform for the North American media industry to engage with new markets and market partners around the world, the Frankfurt Book Fair builds a bridge for these Canadian stories in books, film, television, and games to reach and connect with a wider audience who might not otherwise discover them.
Most game-changing encounter you had or contact you made at the Frankfurt Book Fair:
It is hard to pinpoint one encounter or contact that was game-changing since the book fair allows one to make new contacts and build networks that might be immediately fruitful or might become incredibly important in the future. But I must say that I was very honoured to meet Salman Rushdie a few years ago, who gave a keynote at our opening press conference. A voracious reader of his books, I was deeply impressed by his courage, openness, humanity – I think these qualities are emblematic of our trade.
Your favourite Canadian book, film — or book-on-film or book you would like to see on film next:
Another tough question. It is hard to pick my favorite, but I am really excited to see Canadian writers Michael Crummey, Michel Jean, Dany Laferrière, Catherine Mavrikakis, Paul Seesequasis, Vivek Shraya, Kim Thúy and Nancy Vo who, will all be at the book fair this month in person.
interview by
@JuttaBrendemuhl
portrait image: Juergen Boos photo Jonas Ratermann / Frankfurt Book Fair
info graphic: courtesy Frankfurt Book Fair
