The highly successful 20th edition of the Rendez-Vous with French Cinema in Paris has just closed its doors after four days packed with action for participating international buyers and sales agents, as well as actors, directors, and journalists.
The 2018 Rendez-Vous with French Cinema in Paris, the world's biggest film market and press junket dedicated exclusively to French films, was held from January 18 to 22 in Paris.
A few key figures from this year's event:
Film Market
- 530 accredited participants from foreign countries: distributors, TV buyers, representatives from VOD platforms, and exhibitors
- 58 countries represented
- 44 French sales companies present at market booths
Film Screenings
- 75 films were screened to foreign buyers
- 43 titles are new films not previously screened at international markets
Top 10 titles attracting the highest attendance at the film market:
- Black Tide (Playtime)
- Mrs. Mills (Orange Studio)
- Eva (EuropaCorp)
- Return of the Hero (STUDIOCANAL)
- Naked Normandy + promo reels (SND)
- La Ch'tite Famille (Pathé)
- Promise at Dawn (Pathé)
- In the Game (Orange Studio)
- When Margaux meets Margaux (Indie Sales)
- My Brilliant Divorce (STUDIOCANAL)
Press Junket
A marathon of interviews (over 1,600!) were conducted by 124 journalists from 29 countries, who were eager to discover the new faces of French cinema and to see the latest work by established talents. 108 artists (actors and directors) took part in this year's meetings with international media representatives to give their support to the upcoming commercial release of their films (covering 97 feature films). The following artists were in attendance: Isabelle Huppert, Robin Campillo, Jean Dujardin, François Ozon, Reda Kateb, Vincent Cassel, Fanny Ardant, Guillaume Canet, Albert Dupontel, Nathalie Baye, Agnès Varda, Karin Viard, Marion Cotillard, Nahuel Pérez Biscayart, Arnaud Valois, Stéphane De Freitas, Victor Saint Macary, Xavier Giannoli, Annarita Zambrano, David Alaux, Laurent Cantet, Marina Foïs, Blandine Lenoir, Noée Abita, Mathieu Amalric, Florence Quentin, Yvan Attal, Camélia Jordana, Gabriel Julien-Laferrière, Olivier Marchal, Claude Lelouch, Sou Abadi, Fabrice Eboué, Jean Becker, Nicolas Boukhrief, Nicolas Silhol, Emmanuelle Seigner, François Damiens, Vincent Macaigne, Tony Gatlif, Daphné Patakia, Étienne Comar, Antoon Krings, Arnaud Bouron, Nicolas Vanier, Océanerosemarie, Tarek Boudali, Alice Isaaz, Anne-Dauphine Julliand, Arnaud Desplechin, Philippe Lioret, Alexandra Leclère, Valérie Bonneton, Isabelle Carré, Didier Bourdon, Xavier Beauvois, Édouard Deluc, Benjamin Renner, Patrick Imbert, Olivier Ayache-Vidal, Pascal Laugier, Ziad Doueiri, David Foenkinos, Stéphane Foenkinos, Bruno Dumont, Léonor Serraille, Laetitia Dosch, Xavier Legrand, Léa Drucker, Denis Ménochet, Fabrice Gobert, Lorraine Lévy, Nadir Moknèche, Thierry Frémaux, Redouanne Harjane, Sara Forestier, Serge Bozon, Emmanuel Gras, Tom Volf, Marcela Said, Anne Fontaine, Rachid Hami, Samir Guesmi, Sébastien Thiéry, Christian Carion, Doria Tillier, Nicolas Bedos, Philippe Le Guay, Sonia Kronlund, Tonie Marshall, Carine Tardieu, Amandine Gay, Hubert Charuel, Swann Arlaud, Nicolas Bary, Gilles Lellouche, Gaël Morel, Hélène Angel, Eric Barbier, Michel Hazanavicius, Laurent Tirard, Jacques Doillon, Martin Provost, Marine Francen, Olivier Nakache, Éric Toledano, Joan Chemla, Marine Vacth, Noémie Saglio, Serge Hazanavicius, Vincent Elbaz, Juliette Binoche, Philippe Van Leeuw, Mahamat-Saleh Haroun, Ériq Ebouaney, Stéphane Brizé, Robert Guédiguian, Ariane Ascaride, and Jean-Pierre Darroussin.
450 releases of French films scheduled in 2018 in countries around the globe were covered in the press junket. This should guarantee a wide visibility for all of these French productions at the time of their international release this year by 179 foreign distributors.
This 20th edition of the event also provided an opportunity for UniFrance to make a number of presentations on January 19 at the French Ministry of Culture:
- The publication of preliminary results for French films in international theaters in 2017
With over 80.5 million admissions registered (+98% over 2016), the figures for French films in theaters outside France rebounded in 2017, with box office revenues reaching €468 million. For the fourth time in six years, French films generated a higher number of ticket sales abroad than in the home market (78.2 million spectators were registered in France in 2017).
- The launch of the 8th edition of MyFrenchFilmFestival in the presence of the president of the 2018 Directors' Jury, the Italian filmmaker Paolo Sorrentino, and his fellow jurors Julia Ducournau, Brillante Mendoza, Nabil Ayouch, and Kim Chapiron.
- The French Cinema Award was presented to Juliette Binoche for her contribution to raising the profile of French cinema around the world, in the presence of the French Minister for Culture Françoise Nyssen and a large number of movie industry professionals.
