Two veterans of the faith-based film world have been at Christian Trade Association International’s Marketsquare International in Atlanta this week to explore overseas opportunities for Christian movies.

“There’s a demand for them,” said Byron Jones, who has recently joined Bridgestone Multimedia Group (BMG) as sales director. The company’s catalog of 170-plus titles includes Billy: The Early Years of Billy Graham, The Secrets of Jonathan Sperry and the classic television series Davey and Goliath.

A former executive with Cloud Ten Pictures, which made the “Left Behind” movies, and Pure Flix Entertainment, Jones said that while overseas buyers were sometimes cautious about books with too much American content, which was not necessarily the case for films.

“In some countries, they prefer to watch an American film to one made there,” he said. “The professionalism may be higher, and in a lot of our movies, they recognize a Hollywood star or a former television star.”

Also exhibiting at the event for the first time along with BMG has been Balsiger Media Enterprises (BME), the new focus for David Balsiger, former vice president of marketing and a senior producer at Grizzly Adams Productions. BME’s catalog includes the “Perfect Stranger” movies and children’s series “Quigley’s Village.”

“We knew this event was going to be top heavy with internationals, and that is where we are putting most of our efforts,” he said. BME would likely be making distribution deals with accounts in Scandinavia, the U.K. and Central America from the show, he added.

BMG and BME are among 40 exhibitors at the event, being held in conjunction with the Inspirational Value Book Show. Authors Cecil Murphey and Cindy Trimm spoke at yesterday’s morning devotional time.

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