If you are a short film director or producer, your contact at Unifrance is our Short Film Department.
The Short Film Department offers a liaison service that brings your films in contact with over 100 international film festivals. The department assists relations with festival programmers and French copyright holders, as well as organizing transport for film prints and cassettes, and managing travel arrangements for film directors attending festivals and other industry events.

Logistic Support
The Short Film Department manages and subsidizes the registration and transport of films featured at festivals supported by Unifrance.

Travel Support Provided To Directors
Every year, Unifrance provides travel support to around 30 film directors (Unifrance members) whose films are selected in festival competitions, chiefly in Europe. Directors wishing to benefit from this funding support must send a written request to our department director, Christine Gendre, as soon as they are informed of their film's selection at an event. It is important to note that since Unifrance provides only one trip per event, it is therefore the first director who requests support who will be the beneficiary. Directors are offered travel support once only per year.

Selective Subtitling Aid
Please consult grading schemes in Appendix 2. This aid scheme is awarded by the Short Film Commission, which meets an average of twice monthly to view films proposed by film industry members. Films proposed to the Commission must be shot on 35mm or video, and must have been granted a CNC visa.

Important Notes:
Films which have been completed on 35mm must be presented to the Commission in this format.
A film proposed to the Commission in video format may not be proposed a second time in 35mm format.

Automatic Subtitling Aid
Please consult grading schemes in Appendix 2. All films, whether they have been refused Selective Aid or not, that are presented to the Commission are eligible for Automatic Aid (if the film’s producer makes the request) as soon as the film is selected (whether in competition or not) at at least five foreign industry events. Selections at festivals supported by Unifrance as well as other events not identified by Unifrance are considered for this support facility. In the latter case, written proof must be provided. All films selected in festival competitions at Cannes (all Sections), Venice, and Berlin automatically receive subtitling aid.

Aid to Distributors
Please see award conditions and grading schemes in Appendix 3. An aid budget has been made available to the following companies: Régie-TV Câble from the Agence du Court-Métrage, La Luna Productions, Premium Films, and Talantis Films. This funding scheme provides support to subtitling for French films from these companies’ catalogues (provided that films have been granted a CNC visa), and provides financing for travel arrangements for certain distributors attending major international film festivals and markets.

Updating of the Short Film Database
All films that have been granted a CNC visa, as well as all other films selected at an Unifrance-supported event, are included in the Short Film Department data files. These files also included films from the G.R.E.C. scheme and Film School productions.

The Short Cuts Series
Twice a year, the Short Film Commission selects seven or eight short films that have benefited from the Commission’s selective or automatic aid schemes, which are considered to merit added exposure through their presentation of DVD. Each Short Cuts collection is produced in 800 copies to coincide with one of the short film industry’s major events in France or abroad, with copies sent to Unifrance contacts, including film festivals, buyers, and distributors.

Catalogues
Unifrance publishes a catalogue of foreign film festivals featuring short films, with which Unifrance is a partner. This catalogue is updated whenever festivals inform us of their upcoming selections.

A catalogue of international short film buyers and distributors is also produced. This catalogue is updated regularly, notably following each Clermont-Ferrand International Short Film Festival. This catalogue aims to allow directors and producers who do not yet have a distribution deal to better understand the distribution possibilities for their films in the international arena.