Unifrance and French film industry professionals will have a high profile at the BJIFF, which takes place this year from April 16 through 23, with Luc Besson as the jury president.
A delegation of professionals and artists will travel to the 5th edition: director and producer Luc Besson, who has been invited to be the president of the jury, director Jean-Jacques Annaud, actor Hippolyte Girardot, director of animation films Stéphane Berla, Rosalie Varda, representative of the film production and distribution company Ciné-Tamaris, who will attend the festival to inaugurate the exhibition and retrospective dedicated to Jacques Demy, and Franck Priot, COO of Film France. They will be alongside director Tonie Marshall, who is the Honorary Vice President of Unifrance, and Isabelle Glachant, UniFrance films' representative in China.
French cinema has a particularly strong presence this year in the Beijing International Film Festival's official selection: Wolf Totem by Jean-Jacques Annaud, the latest Franco-Chinese co-production to date, will be shown in Competition, the Franco-Italian co-production Wondrous Boccaccio, by Paolo and Vittorio Taviani, has been selected to open the festival, and another sixteen features or documentaries, produced or co-produced by France, will be presented to Beijing audiences, along with 8 titles in the retrospective dedicated to Luc Besson.
In partnership with UniFrance films, the Beijing Film Festival is also presenting a selection of recent French titles, illustrating the diversity of our film production, in a selection called "A Window To French Cinema," which comprises ten films. This sidebar will start on April 17 with the premiere screening of Life of Riley by Alain Resnais, in the presence of one of the film's lead actors, Hippolyte Girardot. Directors Stéphane Berla and Tonie Marshall will also travel to the event to present Jack and the Cuckoo-Clock Heart and Sex, Love & Therapy, respectively. Besides attending the screenings, they will also meet students of the Central Academy of Drama for a master class on French cinema, as well as the general public at the MOMA, the only arthouse theater in Beijing, during a discussion about actresses in French cinema.
The French Panorama continues to be under the leadership of UniFrance
April 18 will also mark the launch of the 12th French Film Panorama, an event organized by UniFrance films, with support from the Ambassade de France in China, which will present nine features, Life of Riley by Alain Resnais, Belle and Sébastien by Nicolas Vanier, Hippocrates by Thomas Lilti, Jack and the Cuckoo-Clock Heart by Mathias Malzieu and Stéphane Berla, The Bélier Family by Éric Lartigau, Clouds of Sils Maria by Olivier Assayas, Sex, Love & Therapy by Tonie Marshall, Nobody from Nowhere by Matthieu Delaporte, and Journey Through China by Zoltan Mayer, as well as four short films from the program of the 2015 MyFrenchFilmFestival, the online French film festival created by Unifrance films, which took place in January throughout the world.
This year, the French Film Panorama will travel to six Chinese cities: Chengdu, Chongqing, Hangzhou, Shenyang, Shenzhen, and Xi’an.
The film market, forums and master classes
Parallel to the festival, the Beijing Film Market will take place from April 17 through 20 at the China Millenium Monument. Here, a French pavilion grouping together UniFrance films and Film France will outline film shooting and production opportunities in France and present catalogues of new French films available for distribution in China.
In the context of the co-production market, where eight international projects will be presented, three are co-productions with France: Minuscule 3, Les aventures orientales from French film company Futurikon, building on the success of Minuscule: Valley of the Lost Ants, released in China and seen by 865,000 spectators; Love Auction by Alon Chan, produced by Jean-Claude Bourlat, and Get Lucky by David Dusa.
Several forums will be organized during this market, in which France will play a prominent role: April 19, about shooting locations in France and associated production and marketing strategies; April 21, "On the Road to France" will present the advantages, particularly in terms of tax, of shooting films in France. Last but not least, two forums about co-productions will be organized: April 17, in the presence of Jean-Jacques Annaud, and April 19, with Isabelle Glachant, who will speak specifically about collaborations between France and China. Lastly, jury President, Luc Besson, will give a master class at the Beijing Film Academy.
The French professional and artistic delegation will be led by Honorary Vice President of UniFrance films, Tonie Mashall. Following on from the exchanges broached over the past several months with Chinese film industry professionals and governmental representatives, Marshall's presence in Beijing will enable attention to focus on the specificity of the French film system, which provides for a diversity of films in theaters, while still preserving national cinema. It will also support the Franco-Chinese co-production agreement, and champion a stronger presence in Chinese theaters of a diversified range of films, amongst which French cinema must stand out.
Two exhibitions about French cinema will also take place during the festival: The Magical World of Jacques Demy, devised around his film Donkey Skin, will be presented from April 15 through May 24 and will open in the presence of Rosalie Varda and Mathieu Orléan on April 14; Actrices by Kate Barry, a homage to photographer Kate Barry, who passed away recently, and to the great figures of French cinema, will be exhibited from April 18 through May 15 at the MOMA theater.
The French Film Panorama is organized with support from the Ambassade de France in China, and thanks to support from Renault, Lacoste, Groupama, and GDF Suez.
