Exhibitors Newsletter (Monthly)

> Focus on 5 movies released in September 2014

Presenting 5 films released in September 2014 in France.

Métamorphoses is the latest film by Christophe Honoré (Beloved, The Beautiful Person, In Paris), selected this year for the Venice Days section of the Venice Film Festival. International sales are being handled by MK2.

Gemma Bovery directed by Anne Fontaine (Perfect Mothers, Coco Before Chanel) is the new production from Gaumont, starring Gemma Arterton (Quantum of Solace, Hansel and Gretel: Witch Hunters).

3 Hearts by Benoît Jacquot (Farewell My Queen, Villa Amalia) had its world premiere in Competition at the Venice Film Festival, and brought together, for the first time on screen, Charlotte Gainsbourg, Catherine Deneuve, and Chiara Mastroianni.

Saint Laurent is the biopic directed by Bertrand Bonello about one of the greatest designers in the history of fashion. The film was presented in Competition at the Cannes Film Festival in May this year.

Elle l'Adore is the debut feature by Jeanne Herry, produced by European major StudioCanal. It stars Sandrine Kiberlain and Laurent Lafitte. The film was presented in Competition at the 2014 Shanghai International Film Festival.

[FocusFilmsSeptembre.pdf]

> Lucy on the international stage

Luc Besson's film Lucy breaks attendance records abroad.

Lucy has topped 36 million admissions in theaters outside France, according to figures registered late September, and now ranks as the 2nd most successful French film in international markets monitored by UniFrance Films. Luc Besson has thus broken his own record, with his new film taking the lead in the charts for the best-performing French film in Mexico (Universal, 3 million admissions), Taiwan (Universal, 1.4 million), Turkey (Universal, 740,000), and Romania (Ro-Image 2000, 210, 000). In Russia (Universal), Lucy attracted 2.5 million spectators in 10 days, with 1,000 prints released. On its opening day, it accounted for 39.5% of movie screenings in Russia's 8 largest theater chains, and on its opening weekend, admissions to Lucy represented 73% of all ticket sales in Moscow. In upcoming days, the film will no doubt eclipse the performance of Taxi 4 (Central Partnership, 3 million admissions) to become the most French successful film to date in Russia according to UniFrance Films statistics.

Also released at this time in South Korea (Universal), Lucy registered 1.2 million admissions in its opening week, and will soon rank as the 3rd French film ever to have crossed the 2 million admissions threshold in this market. All up, if we add to these results the 200,000 admissions already registered after three days in Japan (Toho-Towa Company), Lucy could well set a new international record—but we will have to wait for its release in China to confirm this prediction.

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> Saint Laurent by Bonello to represent France in the Oscar race

The decision was made today, September 22, by the French selection committee for the Oscars, with Bertrand Bonello's film selected to fly the flag for France in the Foreign Language Film category.

Saint Laurent by Bertrand Bonello was presented in the Official Selection at the latest Cannes International Film Festival and is scheduled to be released in France Wednesday, September 24. It stars Gaspard Ulliel in the title role and recounts ten of the most creative years in the life of the legendary French couturier. The film has been selected to represent France at the 2015 Oscars by a recently reformed selection committee that includes the president of UniFrance Films and director Jean-Paul Salomé, the filmmakers Agnès Jaoui, Régis Wargnier, and Mia Hansen-Løve, the producer Alain Terzian, the director of the Cannes International Film Festival Thierry Frémaux, and the president of the Cinémathèque Française Serge Toubiana.

A number of French productions and co-productions have also been announced as featuring in the pre-selection list for the Oscar for Best Foreign Language Film:

China : The Nightingale, de Philippe Muyl (minority French co-production)

Belgium: Two Days, One Night by Luc and Jean-Pierre Dardenne (minority French co-production)

Israel : Gett, The Trial of Viviane Amsalem, by Ronit & Shlomi Elkabetz (majority French co-production)

Mauritania: Timbuktu by Abderrahmane Sissako (100% French production)

Norway: 1001 grammes by Bent Hamer (minority French co-production)

Sweden: Turist by Ruben Ostlund (minority French co-production)

Turkey: Winter Sleep by Nuri Bilge Ceylan (minority French co-production)

The shortlist finalized by the Academy Awards selection committee will be announced early in the year, with the Oscars ceremony to be held February 22, 2015, at the Dolby Theatre in Hollywood.

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> Founders of Sony Classics receive the Legion of Honor

Michael Barker and Tom Bernard have been the driving force behind the success of many French films in the United States. They were presented with the insignia of the French Legion of Honor on September 22 in New York by French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius.

Just hours after the announcement that Saint Laurent was selected to represent France at the upcoming Oscars in the Foreign Language Film category, the co-founders and co-presidents of Sony Pictures Classics (who will be distributing Saint Laurent in the USA) were inducted into the French Legion of Honor at a ceremony held at the French Consulate in New York.

Saint Laurent is the latest in a long list of over 90 French films distributed in the USA by a range of entities (United Artists, Orion Classics, Sony Pictures Classics) controlled by these two men over the past thirty years. Their "trophy cabinet" includes such classics as The Last Metro, Diva, Pauline at the Beach, Jean de Florette, Au Revoir les Enfants (Goodbye, Children), Too Beautiful for You, Indochina, Hidden, Belleville Rendez-vous, The Class, The White Ribbon, A Prophet and The Past.

The French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius praised the duo for their "unique place in the realm of French cinema, distributing the largest number of French films in America and Europe." He added, "Without your dedication and passion, French cinema would not have reached the American audiences that it has."

For this occasion, UniFrance Films produced a short film tribute that features many of the great names of French and international cinema, including Marion Cotillard, Woody Allen, Michael Haneke, Isabelle Huppert, Gérard Depardieu, and Régis Wargnier.

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> Record number of French films at the Busan Film Festival

This Korean film festival, one of Asia's leading events, will showcase a bevy of French productions this year, with French films also putting in a strong presence at the film market.

The Busan International Film Festival in South Korea (October 2-11, 2014) will present twenty French films this year, setting a new record for French cinema at this event. If we include all co-productions in which France has participated, this number reaches a staggering 52 films!

The festival will feature a French Evening hosted by UniFrance Films and the French Embassy in South Korea, which will present a screening of The Gate by Régis Wargnier held in the director's presence. The directors Bertrand Bonello, Eric Cherrière, and Boris Lojkine, who will be accompanied by his producer Bruno Nahon, will also be in attendance.

With nineteen years of experience, the Busan International Film Festival has stamped itself as the most important film festival in Asia, thanks in part to the great dynamism of Korean cinema at this time.
The festival also offers a film market that grows in size each year, at which UniFrance Films has participated for the past few years in association with the EFP (European Film Promotion). In 2014, a record number of eighteen French sales companies will be present at the film market, based at the UniFrance Films/EFP stand, which this year is three times the size of last year's stand.

The list of French films to be presented at Busan can be viewed at the Busan International Film Festival - 2014 website.

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> UniFrance Films launches Tu Cita con el Cine Francés

Christian Clavier and Serial (Bad) Weddings will open Tu Cita con el Cine Francés, the new event taking place in October, devised by UniFrance films to promote French films in Spain.

Tu Cita con el Cine Francés (Rendez-vous with French Cinema) will take place Thursday October 16 through Sunday October 19, 2014, in the Ideal Cinema in Madrid (with related events programmed in Barcelona). During its four days, this mini-festival will present premiere screenings of films slated for release in the upcoming season, accompanied by their directors and lead actors. It will provide local spectators with an opportunity to meet directors and actors during the discussions that will follow each screening.

French cinema in Spain
More than 20 of the films selected for the upcoming San Sebastian International Film Festival are majority French productions. 50 French films are released on average each year in Spanish theaters. The number of spectators who come to discover the results of the French "cultural exception" is considerable. No one has forgotten the hugely successful Délicatessen, Amelie From Montmartre, The Chorus, and more recently The Artist and The Intouchables.
France is the second world exporter of film after the USA, and in Spain its cinema has one of its most loyal audiences in Europe. To celebrate and support Spanish film professionals (distributors and theater operators), UniFrance films is launching a new Rendez-vous, which will offer the latest vintage of films soon to be released in Spanish theaters.

Tu Cita 2014
The definitive program of films and the artists who will be present at the event will be announced in due course, but we can already confirm the presentation of the French film event of the year: Serial (Bad) Weddings ("Dios mío, ¿pero qué te hemos hecho ?"), in the presence of its lead actor, Christian Clavier. Since its release in April, the film has already attracted more 12 million spectators in France and 3 million worldwide. Distributed in Spain by A Contracorriente Films, Serial (Bad) Weddings will be released in Spanish theaters at the end of 2014.
The complete film selection, the artists present, as well as the Spanish artist who will be the event's patron, will be announced at 2pm on September 21, during the San Sebastian International Film Festival, at a press conference given by Isabelle Giordano, general director of UniFrance films.

Organized by uniFrance Films, France's international film promotion agency, Tu Cita con el Cine Francés benefits from support from the CNC - Centre national du cinéma et de l’image animée, Ministère de la Culture et de la Communication, Ministère des Affaires étrangères, the French Embassy in Spain, Institut français , LVT Subtitling, Nuxe, and Yelmo Cines.

The films of this first edition

Serial (Bad) Weddings by Philippe de Chauveron (in his presence, along with Christian Clavier)
Return to Ithaca by Laurent Cantet (in his presence)
3 Hearts by Benoit Jacquot (in his presence)
La Rançon de la gloire by Xavier Beauvois (in the presence of Dolorès Chaplin)
French Women by Audrey Dana (in her presence)
Tip Top by Serge Bozon (in his presence)
Ariane's Thread by Robert Guédiguian (in his presence, along with Ariane Ascaride)

Yelmo Cines programme here.

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> French films at the international box office: August 2014

The summer ends in a blaze of glory for French films abroad! With Lucy scaling the charts and the excellent performances of Serial (Bad) Weddings, French cinema is in possession of its great success stories of 2014.


Rank	Title	No. of Admissions	B.O. Revenues	No. of Prints	No. of Countries	Total admissions
1	Lucy	18,554,733	€116,383,583	7,453	28	26,342,489
2	Serial (Bad) Weddings	1,985,834	€14,466,124	1023	12	3,226,987
3	Minuscule: Valley of the Lost Ants	948,196	€3,760,417	1,867	7	1,770,772
4	Nicholas on Holiday	516,908	€2,449,960	473	8	721,760
5	The Volcano	160,890	€1,054,712	300	6	606,742
6	Une rencontre	145,103	€941,303	336	7	272,804
7	Attila Marcel	83,231	€454,170	56	2	163,657
8	Yves Saint Laurent	78,211	€483,267	39	3	784,742
9	Mood Indigo	51,313	€371,733	74	3	642,290
10	Barbecue	49,065	€304,683	103	2	146,741
11	French Women	44,734	€262,769	45	3	111,899
12	The Young and Prodigious T.S. Spivet	36,873	€264,664	148	4	270,653
13	The Past	24,346	€83,710	42	5	794,328
14	Superchondriac	22,952	€103,235	70	2	1,012,674
15	In the Courtyard	20,788	€125,895	38	2	27,215
16	Violette	16,631	€69,557	52	4	96,503
17	Diplomacy	15,430	€117,834	96	3	52,690
18	De toutes nos forces	12,679	€112,254	NC	1	31,826
19	The Well Digger's Daughter	11,885	€41,593	17	1	199,265
20	Blood Ties	10,571	€76,712	56	3	90,272

During August 2014, 6 French films attracted more than 100,000 spectators in theaters abroad. 2 films added more than a million spectators to their total admissions during the month.

After its historic launch on the other side of the Atlantic at the end of July, Lucy has followed up with exceptional performances around the world. Only two years after Taken 2, this EuropaCorp production is already on the threshold of entering the top 3 results ever recorded for a French film on the international scene.

Serial (Bad) Weddings continues to appeal to an ever increasing audience in Germany and maintains an excellent admissions level in many territories, week after week.

Thanks to its release in China, Minuscule: Valley of the Lost Ants became the 12th French film to cross the million-spectator mark abroad in 2014. More good news reaches us from South Korea, where Attila Marcel created a surprise at the local box office. As for Yves Saint Laurent, the film has got off to a very encouraging start in Québec.

Spotlight on a selection of standout majority French film titles in August 2014

Lucy crossed the threshold of 25 million admissions abroad at the end of August! Rising to first place at the box office during the week of its release in Spain (Universal – 380,000 admissions), Portugal (Lusomundo – 110,000 admissions), New Zealand (Paramount – 77,000 admissions), and Peru (UIP – 100,000 admissions), Lucy had accumulated 26.3 million admissions in 28 international territories by the end of summer, and became the 4th greatest success recorded by UniFrance films for a French film outside France! The film has overtaken the 23 million admissions racked up by Amelie From Montmartre, and the 32 million admissions of Taken, a film in a similar category, are already within its sights. The powerhouse film of 2014 was yet to be released in twenty other territories during September.

Earlier in the month, Lucy had registered the 4th best launch of all time in Taiwan (United International Pictures), with TWD38 million in revenues on the first day of its release (being about 146,000 admissions). By the end of the month, the film, of which half takes place in Taiwan, had clocked up more than a million admissions in the territory. This is a genuine feat and an absolute record for a French film on the island, already overtaking Taken 2 (Fox) and its 705,000 admissions gathered throughout its career.

In Turkey (UIP), Lucy had a total of almost 600,000 admissions after 3 weeks in the theaters and already represents the best French performance ahead of… The Fifth Element (Umut Sanat Filmcilik and its 447,000 spectators in 1997. The film was also at the top of the box office in Poland (UIP – 438,000 spectators), the United Kingdom (Universal – 1.2 million), and in Germany (Universal – 1.3 million) by the end of August 2014.

Almost 6 weeks after its release, Serial (Bad) Weddings held its place among the top 3 films at the German box office (Neue Visionen) and had crossed the 2-million admissions mark! With a print run that increased from 224 upon its launch to 719 by the end of August, the film has now been seen by 2 million German spectators. The results of Welcome to the Land of Ch'tis in 2008 (Prokino – 2.3 million admissions) were hence within its reach by the end of summer. In Austria (Filmladen), the film is on the brink of 300,000 admissions, a figure only The Intouchables (Constantin Film – 763,000 admissions) has overtaken since the beginning of 2000. Farther away from French borders, the film attracted 6,500 admissions in Kazakhstan, where the film has been running in 2 theaters for 10 weeks!

Serial (Bad) Weddings had achieved a total of 3.2 million admissions abroad by the end of August. It will soon overtake the international results of another great French comedy success: The Dinner Game and its 3.6 million spectators at the end of the 1990s.

Minuscule: Valley of the Lost Ants rose to 5th place at the Chinese box office (China Film Corporation) by the end of its opening week. With 760,000 admissions accumulated in 10 days, the film from the Futurikon studio has achieved the greatest success of a French animation film in Chinese theaters, overtaking Arthur and the Invisible (Domo Media – 600,000 admissions in 2007). By the end of August, it had achieved the fifth best results for a French film released in 2014 in China, where admissions for French films have already reached 9 million, of which 5.8 million have been for the minority production Brick Mansions. Minuscule had doubled its international admissions (1.8 million spectators by the end of August) and had become the 12th French film with a million admissions abroad in 2014 (compared with 11 in 2012 and 10 in 2013).

Attila Marcel created a surprise in South Korea (Challan), where the film had been seen by a total of 127,000 spectators from fifty screens by the end of the 5th weekend of its run. The film maintained its place among the top 10 films in South Korea for some time, and has overtaken the results registered by The Artist (Jinjin Pictures), which ended its career in 2012 with 120,000 admissions. Attila Marcel had recorded 164,000 admissions abroad by the end of August. With 1.5 million spectators in South Korea since the beginning of 2014, French cinema is guaranteed to outdo the more timid performances of 2011 and 2013 in this market, which continues to be more focused on blockbuster releases and local productions.

Yves Saint Laurent launched well in Quebec theaters. Distributed by Les Films Séville, the film generated almost CAD150,000 in revenues, being 17,000 admissions from 13 prints. This is a fine performance and the second best spectator average per print in this territory this week. The film had attracted 25,000 spectators by the end of August. Yves Saint Laurent had a total of 785,000 spectators by the end of summer in 21 territories, of which 133,000 in Germany (Universum Film), 105,000 in Italy (Lucky Red), 76,000 in the USA (The Weinstein Company), 66,000 in Belgium and the United Kingdom (E1 Entertainment), and 44,000 in Poland (Vue Movie) and Brazil (Paris Filmes).