Selective aid for the distribution of feature-length films abroad

17 OCTOBER 2023

In order to strengthen and renew distribution strategies in foreign markets for French cinematographic works, Unifrance, with the support of the CNC, has decided to set up a financial support scheme for the distribution of French films abroad.

This aid is at the attention of the distributors and companies registered outside France which hold distribution or use rights to an eligible work under the meaning of the guidelines, and present a release plan for the work that meets the criteria for attribution of the aid.

To consult the conditions regarding the recipients of this aid and the conditions relating to the works, please download the guidelines.

The aid is granted upon the decision of the managing director of Unifrance acting on the recommendation of a commission known as the “foreign distribution aid commission”, made up of industry professionals. Regarding the number of applications likely to be made by foreign distributors, the highly selective nature of the aid is underlined. Not all projected releases will benefit from support. The commission’s decisions will be final and there is no right of appeal.

The provisional annual calendar of commissions is as follows (5 commissions per year): January/February, April/ May, June/July, September/October, December (subject to available budget).

Applications must be received around 3 weeks before the commission (please check the precise schedule hereunder).

SUBMISSION DEADLINES
Film release windows	Submission deadline	Commission date
From January 29th to the 15th of april included	Monday 5th of january 2026	Thursday 29th of january 2026
From april 16th to mid june (the exact date will be fixed on june 26th)	Friday 13th of march	Thursday 16th of april 2026

Form available for download at the bottom of the page.

From now on, the applications must be submitted with all the required documentation on the submission deadline, including the letter of support from the sales agent. On this date, if one or more elements are missing, the application will be immediately rejected.

Kindly provide the documents compiled as a single PDF file and in the following order: application form, request letter (detailing release strategy), description of the distributor, marketing plan and promotional campaign (optionnal, but recommended), contract or series of contracts between the distributor and the sales agent, sales agent's reasoned opinion on the release (support letter).

You can now propose a second application at the same session if one of the two is a documentary or an animated film.

Since 2025, films that have benefited from the ACM production programme may be supported via this selective aid for the distribution of French films abroad, subject to certain conditions. The eligibility criteria are set out in the note below. A dedicated and limited budget has been set aside for these films. A distributor may submit two applications for support during the same session, provided that one of the two films proposed is an ACM film. The application procedure remains unchanged, except that a special section for ACM films has been added to the application form, which can also be found below.

For any questions, please contact the relevant territory manager in charge of processing applications at Unifrance: