The 7th Budapest French Film Festival will be held April 25-27, 2003.
Spurred on by the excellent results registered by French films in Eastern Europe at this time, Unifrance pursues its activities directed at countries in this region, hosting the upcoming 7th Budapest French Film Festival in close collaboration with Hungarian distributors.
Each of the 8 films presented in preview screenings at the festival have already secured a Hungarian distributor, for whom this event offers an opportunity to prepare the ground for their films’ commercial release in the country. These films are slated for release in the 3 months following the event.
The following films are to be showcased at the festival:
"Euro Pudding" by Cédric Klapisch (Best Hollywood)
"Jet Lag" by Danièle Thompson (SPI International)
"Monday Morning" by Otar Iosseliani (Budapest Film)
"La Mentale" by Manuel Boursinhac (Best Hollywood)
"Novo" by Jean-Pierre Limosin (Mokep)
"Speak to Me of Love" by Sophie Marceau (Best Hollywood)
"Read My Lips" by Jacques Audiard (Budapest Film)
"Trouble Every Day" by Claire Denis (Cirko/Maskepp)
The artistic delegation, led by director Régis Wargnier, will include Cédric Klapisch, Judith Godrèche, Danièle Thompson, Manuel Boursinhac, Jean-Pierre Limosin, Eduardo Noriega, Sophie Marceau, Jacques Audiard and Emmanuelle Devos. These artists will present their films in the historic Corvin cinema complex’s largest theater (500 seats), located in the city center.
The Festival benefits from support from Citroën Hungary, the city of Budapest, the Hungarian Ministry of Culture and French state authorities.
THE HUNGARIAN MARKET
Since Hungary’s economic revival set in motion in 1995, and the opening up of the first multiplexes, movie attendance in the country has well and truly picked up. Hungary now boasts the highest admissions figures for the entire zone (1.54 movies per person per year in 2001).
French-language films’ market share has increased almost fivefold since 1997, the festival’s first year, up from around 176,000 spectators to more than 800,000. 1999 and 2000 marked a turning point, with the fine performances of "Taxi" and "Asterix and Obelix versus Caesar," followed by "Taxi 2," "Amelie" and "Asterix & Obelix: Mission Cleopatra" successfully winning over Hungarian spectators. Such triumphs can be credited to efforts made by distributors, notably in dubbing films, and also to support from French state authorities. Finally, "Taxi 3," released February 27 this year, attracted over 200,000 Hungarian moviegoers in two weeks, showing promise for an excellent year in 2003.
In addition to the undeniable success of these French titles, Hungary also stands out by the variety in the choice of films made by distributors, and thus ranks in 1st place of all the countries joining the European Union in 2004 in terms of the number of French films released, with 34 titles, including 23 shot in the French language, hitting the screens in 2002.
