On January 18, on the eve of uniFrance's 8th Rendez-Vous with French Cinema, the very first Franco-Spanish Film Meetings will be officially opened in Paris by Véronique Cayla, General Director of the CNC (French Centre National de la Cinématographie), and Fernando Lara, General Director of the ICAA (Instituto de la Cinematografía y de las Artes Audiovisuales - Spanish Institute for Film and Audiovisual Arts).

Organized at the initiative of uniFrance President Margaret Menegoz, these meetings will follow the first Franco-Italian Film Meetings, which gathered together 200 participants in Rome in June, as well as the 3rd Franco-German Film Meetings held in Cologne in November (over 300 participants).

The program will consist of round table discussions.
The first of these, led by François Hurard (Director of the CNC’s Cinema Department) and Beatriz de Armas (Director of Cinema and Audiovisual Development at the ICAA) will be dedicated to Franco-Spanish co-productions (covering issues such as profits, difficulties encountered, state aid, release of films on the market, promotion and publicity). Among speakers confirmed at this event are Eric Nevé (La Chauve-Souris), Thomas Langmann (La Petite Reine), Yves Marmion (UGC YM), Francisco Casal (Continental Producciones), Juan Gordon (Morena Films) and Antonio Saura (Zebra Producciones).

The second round table discussion will focus on the distribution of Spanish films in France and French films in Spain, to be moderated by Régine Vial (Director of Distribution at Les Films du Losange) and Adolfo Blanco, (Consultant at Notro Films). Participants will include Carole Scotta (Haut et Court), Mima Fleurent (Colifilms), Enrique González Macho (Alta Films), Andrés Martin (Vertigo) and José Maria Morales (Wanda Films).

The following round table discussions will tackle the subject of the role of television channels in film financing and European film distribution. Manuel Alduy (Canal+), Pierre Héros (France 2 Cinéma), Jaime Boix (TVE), Jordi Serra (TV3) and Álvaro Agustín (Tele 5) will respond to questions from Alain Terzian, President of the UPF (French Film Producers' Union) and Fabia Buenaventura, General Director of the FAPAE (Spanish Federation of Audiovisual Producers).

The second day will give producers the opportunity to present their latest projects at a pitching session. Discussions will resume, focusing on the role of Regional Authorities in film development and co-productions. On the French side, Patrick Lamassoure (Chief Representative of Film France), Olivier-René Veillon (Director General of the Ile-de-France Film Commission) and Grégory Faes (Director of Rhône-Alpes Cinéma) will make presentations. On the Spanish side, speakers will be Carlos Rosado (President of the Spanish Film Commission), Carmen Conte (Deputy Director of the Catalan Institute of Cultural Affairs) and Ignacio Varela (Managing Director of the Consortium in charge of Audiovisual Development in Galicia).

The last afternoon will be devoted to the subject of the digital distribution and exhibition of European cinema: Daniel Goudineau (Director of Cultural Policy for International Co-productions and Relations with the CNC at France Télévisions), Rafael Alvero and Enrique Pérez Font will be presenting, among others, the experiences of Reelport/Tiscali Business S.L. (Digital distribution) and Bartholomeu (Digital exhibition).

Before the official closure of these meetings chaired by Henri Paul (the French Culture Ministry's principal private secretary), Véronique Bouffard (Managing Director of uniFrance) and Pilar Torre (Director of Promotions and International Relations at the ICAA) will consult participants on the pertinence of organizing an event dedicated to Spanish films in Paris and an event dedicated to French films in Madrid.

Finally, it is worth noting that France and Spain co-produced 11 feature films in 2001, 3 in 2002, 8 in 2003, 5 in 2004 and 9 in 2005.

These first Franco-Spanish Film Meetings, organized by uniFrance, benefit from support from the CNC and the ICAA.