Unifrance presents the 27th Unifrance Rendez-Vous in Paris, the world's largest market and press junket dedicated to French cinema and audiovisual productions.
The Rendez-Vous will take place from January 14 to 21, 2025. On the cinema front, 400 international buyers and 45 export companies are expected. On the audiovisual front, over 100 buyers and 50 distribution companies will be present. New this year: 9 companies selling short films will also be taking part in the market. In all, nearly 1,000 people from 44 countries will be accredited for the event.
The press junket will welcome more than 120 foreign journalists (from some 30 countries) and as many French artists, who will meet for interviews to accompany the release and broadcast, over the course of 2025, of 79 French films and 14 audiovisual programs.
Journée de l'Export
The 5th Export Day will bring together distributors, broadcasters, producers, exporters, artists, communication experts and institutions at the CNC, on Monday, January 13 in the afternoon. These personalities will come together to analyze and compare their points of view on the challenges facing French cinema and audiovisual exports in the years ahead, and the challenges of international co-production. The Export Day will also be an opportunity to reveal the figures and trends for the international French film and audiovisual industry in 2024.
Opening night
On the evening of Tuesday, January 14, the screening of the opening film of the Rendez-Vous, The Musicians by Grégory Magne (produced by Les Films Velvet and Baxter Films and sold by Pyramide International), will take place at the Pathé Palace cinema, in the presence of the film team. It will be followed by a cocktail reception attended by exporters and buyers (cinema and audiovisual), producers, artists, and institutional representatives.
Cinema and audiovisual market
The cinema and audiovisual market will take place from January 14 (1 pm) to 17 inclusive, in the Espace C2 of the Pullman Paris Montparnasse Hotel.
On the cinema front, nearly 400 international buyers from 40 countries are already expected and, from France, 45 sales companies and nine short film companies.
On the audiovisual front, 100 buyers from 30 countries will meet 50 French audiovisual distribution companies.
Paris Screenings
The Paris Screenings (cinema & audiovisual market screenings) will take place at the Pathé Parnasse cinema, starting on Tuesday, January 14 in the afternoon. The cinema screenings will run until late morning on Friday, January 17, and the audiovisual screenings will run until late morning on Thursday, January 16.
International buyers will be able to attend screenings of:
- 85 films, including 41 market premieres
- Eight audiovisual programs
Unifrance Distribution Prize
The first Unifrance Distribution Prize, created with the support of the CNC to reward a foreign distribution company whose promotion and release campaign for a French film has been judged particularly ambitious and innovative, will be presented by Charles Tesson, Chairman of the Commission for Selective Distribution Assistance, on Wednesday 15 January 2025.
Introducing the 10 to Watch 2025
Emerging filmmakers, actors, and actresses: they made a splash at major international festivals in 2024 and will be on screens the world over in 2025. They are the new faces of French cinema.
Selected by international journalists Rebecca Leffler (Screen International), Fabien Lemercier (Cineuropa), Elsa Keslassy (Variety), Jordan Mintzer (The Hollywood Reporter), and Christine Masson (France Inter), the 10 to Watch 2025 embody the resurgence of our cinema through the freedom and singularity of their artistic choices, their ambition, their audacity, their openness to the world...
Unifrance is proud to honor this new generation, which contributes fully to the effervescence of French cinematographic – and sometimes audiovisual – creation, and to encourage the distribution of their works beyond France's borders.
The list of these ten artists will be revealed, in partnership with Screen International, on January 16 at 1pm.
French Cinema Award
On Thursday, January 16, a French Cinema Award will be presented by Unifrance to Rebecca Zlotowski at the French Ministry of Culture.
Created in 2016 by Unifrance, the French Cinema Award is intended to celebrate an international film industry personality who has worked to promote French cinema around the world, in particular alongside Unifrance.
Since 2016, the recipients have been: producers Aton Soumache and Dimitri Rassam, Italian distributor Andrea Occhipinti (Lucky Red), Chinese distributor La Peikang (China Film Group), German distributor Torsten Frehse (Neue Visionen Filmverleih), Spanish distributor Adolfo Blanco Lucas (A Contracorriente Films), actresses Isabelle Huppert, Juliette Binoche, and Virginie Efira, actor Melvil Poupaud, Chinese Cinémathèque director Sun Xianghui, Lumière Pavilions president and founder Jane Shao, and film directors Éric Toledano, Olivier Nakache, and Olivier Assayas.
Launch of MyFrenchFilmFestival
The 15th MyFrenchFilmFestival will be launched worldwide on January 17. The members of the International Jury will be present the day before at the Ministry of Culture for the French Cinema Award presented to Rebecca Zlotowski. They will then meet to award the Grand Prix to a feature film in competition, which will be announced on February 14, as well as the International Press Award for a feature film and the Content Creators' Award for a short film. The Audience Award will be announced on February 19.
From January 17 to February 17, festivalgoers from all over the world will be able to discover a selection of 20 French-language films that have made their mark at major international film festivals: 10 features (including nine in competition) and 10 shorts (including nine in competition), all subtitled in eight languages: German, English, Arabic, Spanish, Italian, Japanese, Mandarin, and Portuguese.
International press junket
The press junket, dedicated to French films and audiovisual programs scheduled for release or broadcast abroad in 2025, will take place from January 18 to 21 at the Sofitel Paris Arc de Triomphe, with nearly 120 French artists (directors, actors, actresses, showrunners, etc.) in attendance to meet over 100 international journalists from some 30 countries.
The event will feature 79 films and 14 audiovisual programs.
The photo studio will be run by photographer Marie Rouge.
For the first time, the press junket will also feature a special focus on XR. On Sunday 19 and Monday 20 January, the 2 specialist French distribution companies, Astrea and Unframed Collection, will be on hand to present their award-winning films to the journalists in attendance.
Last but not least, taking advantage of the presence of many international journalists at the Rendez-Vous, Unifrance will also partner the Lumiere Awards, to be held on January 20 at the Forum des Images. This ceremony will be followed by a closing cocktail reception at the Hôtel de Ville de Paris (by invitation only).
LThe 27th Unifrance Rendez-Vous in Paris enjoys the invaluable support of: République française, CNC, Institut français, PROCIREP, TitraFilm, Wallonie Bruxelles Images, Cinando, Davines, Pullman Paris Montparnasse, Le film français, and Variety.
Official supplier: Estandon (Alcohol abuse is dangerous for your health, consume in moderation.)
Unifrance also thanks: Vranken-Pommery Monopole, Patron of the Unifrance Endowment Fund.
The 10 to Watch program is supported by Screen International.
