French Cinema at the EFM and Berlinale 2021

15 FEBRUARY 2021

Xavier Beauvois, Céline Sciamma, and the duo Joana Hadjithomas and Khalil Joreige will present their new films in Official Competition at the 71st Berlinale, which will take place in two stages, employing unprecedented protocols and organization.

Due to the pandemic, the 71st edition of the Berlinale will take place in two stages and with a tight schedule (one hundred films as opposed to the usual three hundred) – spread between the usual sections (Competition, Forum, Panorama, and the more recent Encounters, devoted to new cinematic forms).

UniFrance's presence at the EFM

This year the Berlinale is divided into two phases. The EFM, a 100% virtual film market, will take place from March 1 through 5. It will offer its accredited participants, all of whom must be film industry professionals or press, films selected by the Berlinale – in addition to titles that will be presented solely within the context of the market. During this first period of the festival, a jury (composed only of directors who have received a Golden Bear in the past) will meet in person to decide on the prizewinners of the Official Competition, which will be announced at the end of this phase. The EFM (European Film Market) will be held from March 1 through 5 and will take place online.

Virtual screenings, digital stands for all the usual exhibitors (international sales agents, institutions, etc.), a coproduction market, online conference program (EFM Industry Sessions), and a daily podcast will be on the program of this first part of the festival.

UniFrance will represent French exporters participating in the EFM through a virtual stand (reserved for those accredited to the market), which will showcase French works screening at the market, as well as the organization's latest initiatives to promote French cinema worldwide (10 to Watch, Success of 2020, etc.).

--> To access the UniFrance virtual stand at EFM 2021
(access reserved for accredited EFM)

UniFrance will send, throughout the EFM, a daily newsletter highlighting its actions as well as the French films presented in the various sections of the Berlinale and presented in world premiere at the market.

Press: In a special arrangement and in agreement with the Berlinale directors, UniFrance will present press screenings in Paris of French films selected at the next Berlin Film Festival. These screenings will take place from February 23 through 25 and are intended for movie critics from trade magazines and foreign correspondents based in Paris in order to maximize editorial support during the presentation of the films at the festival.

Finally, UniFrance will organize, for international buyers and sellers, as well as for the press, a massive blind-test of French film music and online sports sessions.

The public festival shifts to June

The prizewinners will only be announced during the awards ceremony at the end of the festival's second phase, which will take place from June 9 through 20 – entitled "Berlinale Summer Special" and during which there will be public screenings of all the films presented in the festival's various strands.

The different selections have been revealed over the last few days, with a competition that showcases French cinema, with three French or majority French productions included in the selection of 15 titles.

Two films made by French directors represent France in the Official Competition (Xavier Beauvois for Drift Away and Céline Sciamma for Petite Maman), and are joined by Memory Box, a majority French coproduction directed by the Lebanese couple Joana Hadjithomas and Khalil Joreige.

In the other sections, we also find new films by Damien Odoul (Theo and the Metamorphosis) and Alice Diop (We), which blur the line between fiction and documentary.