Following a call for applications launched last December, UniFrance and a committee of American distributors selected twelve U.S. arthouse theaters, which will receive a grant of $2,000 each for the promotion of at least two French films distributed and programmed in the first half of 2021.
To cope with the crisis facing independent distribution and exhibition in the USA, Unifrance has decided to set up a temporary support mechanism for American arthouse cinemas, a mechanism that also makes it possible to support the release of French films by American distributors in the coming months.
Out of the twenty-five applications received, twelve theaters – from ten states – were selected.
- North Park Theatre of Buffalo - Buffalo, NY
- Gateway Film Center - Columbus, Ohio
- The Frida Cinema - Santa Ana, CA
- Coral Gables Cinemateque - Coral Gables, FL
- The Tull Family Theater - Sewickley, PA
- Crandell Theatre - Chatham, NY
- Downtown Winston-Salem Community Cinema - Winston-Salem, NC
- Tampa Theatre - Tampa, FL
- Hopkins Center for the arts cinema - Hanover, NH
- Zeitgeist Center for Arts & Community - Duluth, MN
- Austin Film Society - Austin, TX
- Amherst Cinema - Amherst, MA
The majority of the grant needs to be spent on promoting the films in question and is meant to enable cinemas to spend above and beyond their usual practice on promoting the films.