It was a successful year for the Rendez-Vous with French Cinema in Paris, which has just completed four action-packed days of meetings held, on one side, between international buyers and sales agents, and on the other, between journalists and the actors and directors from the films presented.
The 2017 Rendez-Vous with French Cinema in Paris, the world's biggest annual film market and press junket exclusively dedicated to French films, took place in the French capital between January 13 and 16 following the customary opening cocktail reception held on the evening of January 12 at the Grand Hôtel.
A few key figures from this year's event:
Film Market (photo):
- 500 accredited participants from abroad: distributors, TV buyers, representatives from VOD platforms, and exhibitors
- 50 countries represented
- 42 French sales companies present with individual booths
A discussion about the future of independent film distribution in international markets held in the presence of Jean Labadie (Le Pacte), Éric Lagesse (Pyramide International), Jordan Mintzer (The Hollywood Reporter), and Antonio Medici (Bim Distribuzione) allowed these professionals to offer some fascinating feedback on their own experiences of distributing independent films, an activity that has become increasingly complex in recent years.
Film Screenings:
- 79 films were screened to foreign buyers, including 49 films that had never previously been presented at an international market.
- 49.54: the average number of people per screening (compared to 44.73 in 2016)
- A total of 3,914 viewers attended the screenings.
In the words of Gilles Renouard, deputy director of Unifrance, "The record attendance at the market screenings provides an encouraging indication from European distributors regarding their expectations of French films. Comedies continue to take pride of place, attracting the largest number of distributors. Preparatory work for Berlin and even Cannes (briefings, presales, secret screenings) clearly takes place in Paris at the UniFrance Rendez-Vous event."
Press Junket:
A marathon of interviews were conducted (almost 1,500!) by 115 journalists, who were keen to discover the new faces of French cinema and to meet up once again with more familiar personalities. These journalists met with 148 actors and directors, including Isabelle Huppert, Olivier Assayas, Alain Guiraudie, François Ozon, Reda Kateb, Bérénice Bejo, Lambert Wilson, and Lily-Rose Depp. This press junket covered 450 film releases scheduled to take place in various countries around the world in 2017. These interviews will contribute to raising the visibility of all of these films at the time of their release in foreign markets.
