After Andrea Occhipinti (Lucky Red), Torsten Frehse (Neue Visionen), and La Peikang (China Film Group), UniFrance again honors a personality working in international film distribution who has contributed to the wide distribution of French cinema in his or her country.

Born in 1963, Adolfo Blanco has been a producer and distributor since 1992. With his companies  Notro Films (Groupe Vertice) and A Contracorriente Films, the Spanish distributor has acquired and distributed in Spain some of the greatest recent successes of French cinema (The Pianist, Games of Love and Chance, Oceans, Heartbreaker, Little White Lies, Me, Myself and Mum, Barbecue, Chinese Puzzle, Samba, Leap, Marguerite, Mustang, Two is a Family, Faces, Places, Barbara, Big Bad Fox & Other Tales, and C'est la vie!), with the most successful films on his slate being The Intouchables (2.58 million spectators) and Serial (Bad) Weddings (1.33 million spectators).

Created in 2016 by UniFrance, the French Cinema Award (redesigned in 2018 by the Maison Daum*), honors an outstanding figure in the international movie industry who has contributed to raising the profile of French cinema around the world.

The French Cinema Awards since 2016

2016

• The French producers Aton Soumache and Dimitri Rassam (Le Petit Prince)
• The Italian distributor Andrea Occhipinti (Lucky Red)

2017

• The Chinese distributor La Peikang (China Film Group)
• The German distributor Torsten Frehse (Neue Visionen)
• The French actress Isabelle Huppert

2018

• The French actress Juliette Binoche
• The director of the Chinese Cinémathèque Sun Xianghui

* Art is an expression of emotions, a universal language. It is, indeed, "meant to disturb," according to Braque. The vision of the Maison Daum is about awakening a reminiscence of ancestral art; it also expresses an abiding connection with the art scene, through over 400 collaborations with artists over the years (such as with Armand, Braque, Dali, Mesnager, and Kongo, among others). To celebrate its 140th anniversary, the Maison Daum wishes, through the French Cinema Award, to shine a light on a magical work representing the wings of a white crystal angel, created by Jean Lamore, which serves as a veritable symbol of the pure emotion of esthetic pleasure.