Following the success of the Franco-Indian Meetings held during the Cannes Film Festival in 2018, the French Embassy in India hosted the 2nd edition of the Franco-Indian Motion Picture Industry Meetings on December 13 and 14, 2018, in Mumbai.
During this two-day event, French organizations in the motion picture and tourism sectors (Unifrance, TV France International, Film France, Atout France & ADEF - Association des Exportateurs de Films), along with twelve leading French production and sales companies (including Gaumont, TF1 Studio, STUDIOCANAL and Doc & Film International), met with their Indian counterparts in Mumbai. The principal motivation for UniFrance's participation in this mini-market concerned, firstly, VOD platforms (in the interests of sales companies), and secondly, relations with Indian producers intending to acquire remake rights (in the interests of production companies).
France's Minister for Europe and Foreign Affairs, Jean-Yves Le Drian, who was in India for an official two-day visit, chaired the closing ceremony of the meetings. The Franco-Indian screen star Kalki Koechlin was also notably in attendance. At this event, the Minister presented the insignia of the Chevalier de l'Ordre National du Mérite to the Indian producer Ashok Amritraj, president of the Hyde Park Entertainment Group, and announced the launch of the first Franco-Indian Co-Production Development Fund.
Following UniFrance initiatives undertaken by Isabelle Giordano and Pierre Laburthe in Cannes, the company Cinéfrance 1888 / Cinéfrance Plus joined forces with Ashok Amritraj to create this development fund aimed at Franco-Indian film projects. A committee composed of an equal number of French and Indian industry professionals will thus confer twice a year to examine the projects submitted and will select one or several projects that stand out due to their high quality and potential, both in the context of Indian and French markets. The development of the selected project or projects will then be co-financed up to the production stage, which will be handled by the co-production partners in their respective countries.
Digital Technology: A key objective for French cinema in India
France and India are two of the major players in the international motion picture industry: India is the world's leading producer of films, while France is the world's second biggest film exporter. The current situation in the theatrical sector in India is such that traditional distributors are increasingly taking the role of aggregators of content with the aim of favoring other distribution channels. At the same time, local VOD platforms (OTT providers, such as cable operators) are gaining ground in the market and diversifying their content, with now over 70 million subscribers across the country. Operations undertaken on a local level by UniFrance in recent months, notably in AVOD and SVOD services in conjunction with HotStar (India's leading provider), demonstrate that digital platforms are a key target area for the distribution of independent French and European films in India. This event thus provided an important opportunity to meet with these new market players and to clearly identify potential deals and expected returns.
A detailed report on the acquisition policies of the VOD operators with which UniFrance met in Mumbai will be made available to UniFrance members in the coming weeks.
