The 28th Rendez-vous d'Unifrance à Paris will take place from January 13 to 20. On the film front, 400 buyers (from 40 countries) and 43 feature film export companies are expected to attend. On the audiovisual front, more than 100 buyers (from 24 countries) and 50 distribution companies will be present. Five short film sales organizations will also participate in the market. 71 films and three programs, as well as one audiovisual showreel, will be screened as part of the Paris Screenings. In total, nearly 1,000 people will be accredited for the event.
The press junket will welcome nearly 120 foreign journalists (from around 30 countries) and as many French artists, who will meet for interviews to accompany the release and broadcast of 83 French films and nine audiovisual programs throughout 2026.
Export Day
Leading up to the Unifrance Rendez-Vous in Paris, the 6th Export Day will bring together producers, exporters, distributors, broadcasters, artists, and institutional representatives from France and Europe on Monday afternoon, January 12, at the CNC. These professionals will come together to analyze and compare their views on the challenges facing French film and audiovisual exports in the coming years, as well as the issues surrounding international co-production, promoting works to new audiences, and the opportunities offered by film and audiovisual media for thinking about the world of tomorrow. Export Day will also be an opportunity to reveal the figures and trends for French cinema and audiovisual works internationally for 2025.
Opening night
On Tuesday, January 13, in the evening, the Pathé Palace will host the screening of the Rendez-Vous' opening night film, Comédie Française, by Bertrand Usclat and Martin Darondeau, produced by Thomas Verhaeghe and Mathieu Verhaeghe for Atelier de Production, and sold internationally by Charades.
This special screening, reserved for international distributors and buyers accredited to the Rendez-Vous, will take place at the Pathé Palace movie theater, in the presence of the film's artistic crew.
Film and audiovisual market
The film and audiovisual market will take place from January 13 to 17 at Espace C2 in the Pullman Paris Montparnasse hotel.
On the film front, nearly 400 international buyers from 40 countries are expected to attend, and 43 French feature film sales companies and five French short film sales companies will be there to present their latest offerings.
On the audiovisual front, 100 buyers from 24 countries will be present and will be able to meet with 50 French audiovisual distribution companies.
Paris Screenings
The Paris Screenings (film and audiovisual market screenings) will take place, for film, from Tuesday, January 13, in the early afternoon until Thursday, January 15, in the late afternoon. The audiovisual screenings will be held on Wednesday, January 14, in the morning. The screenings, accessible with accreditation, will be held at Pathé Parnasse (January 13-15) and Les 7 Parnassiens (January 14).
International buyers will be offered:
- 71 films, including 39 market premieres
- 3 audiovisual programs, including one market premiere, and one showreel
Unifrance Distribution Award
The second Unifrance Distribution Award, created with the support of the CNC to recognize a foreign distribution company whose promotional and release campaign for a French film has been deemed particularly ambitious and innovative, will be presented on Wednesday, January 14 at the Pullman Paris Montparnasse.
Unifrance Broadcaster Award
The first Unifrance Broadcaster Award will recognize the foreign broadcaster that has made the greatest contribution to promoting French audiovisual works internationally. This award will also be presented on Wednesday, January 14, 2026, at the Pullman Paris Montparnasse, at the same time as the Unifrance Distribution Award.
Announcing Unifrance's 10 to Watch 2026
Emerging filmmakers and actors: they made a name for themselves at major international festivals in 2025 and will be on screens around the world in 2026. They are the new faces of French cinema.
Selected by international journalists Rebecca Leffler (Screen International), Fabien Lemercier (Cineuropa), Jordan Mintzer (The Hollywood Reporter), Christine Masson (France Inter), and Mariam Schaghaghi (freelance journalist for the German press), Unifrance's 10 to Watch 2026 embody the renewal of French cinema through the freedom and uniqueness of their artistic choices, their ambition, their audacity, and their openness to the world…
Unifrance is proud to honor this new generation, which is contributing fully to the effervescence of French filmmaking—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 Thursday, January 15 at 1 pm.
French Cinema Award
On the evening of January 15, at the French Ministry of Culture, Unifrance will present a French Cinema Award to Cédric Klapisch.
Created in 2016 by Unifrance, the French Cinema Award (designed by Jean Lamore for Maison Daum) is intended to pay tribute to a leading French personality who has made a significant contribution to the influence and dissemination of French cinema around the world.
Since 2016, the award has been presented to 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, director of the Chinese Cinémathèque Sun Xianghui, president and founder of Lumière Pavilions Jane Shao, and film directors Éric Toledano, Olivier Nakache, Olivier Assayas, and Rebecca Zlotowski.
International press junket
The press junket, dedicated to French films and audiovisual programs set to be released or broadcast abroad in 2026, will take place from January 17 to 20 at the Sofitel Paris Arc de Triomphe, attended by nearly 120 French artists (directors, actors, actresses, showrunners, etc.) who will meet with as many international journalists—covering film and TV—from around 30 countries.
83 films and nine audiovisual programs will be the focus of these encounters.
The photo studio will be entrusted to photographer Marie Rouge.
Last but not least, taking advantage of the presence of numerous international journalists at the Rendez-Vous, Unifrance will once again partner the Lumières Awards ceremony, which will be held on Sunday, January 18, at the Institut du Monde Arabe.
The 28th Unifrance Rendez-Vous in Paris receive support from: République Française, CNC, Institut Français, PROCIREP, TitraFilm, Wallonie Bruxelles Images, Cinando, Davines, Pullman Paris Montparnasse, Sofitel Paris Arc de Triomphe, Le film français, and Variety
Official suppliers: Estandon & Super Bock
(Alcohol abuse is dangerous for your health, please drink responsibly.)
Unifrance also thanks: Maison Pommery & Associés, Patron of the Unifrance Endowment Fund. .
The presentation of the 10 to Watch 2026 during the Rendez-Vous is supported by Screen International.
Media Gallery
© Emmanuelle Jacobson-Roques
© Emmanuelle Jacobson-Roques
© Jérémy Charbaut - Unifrance
© Jérémy Charbaut - Unifrance
