By pursuing its activities (French film festivals, film market funding, providing support for French film professionals to attend international festivals) in 2010, we believe that Unifrance has fully performed its role with regard to French producers, exporters, actors, and directors. But Unifrance must also adapt its methods and propose new initiatives to reinforce French cinema's position in the world. With this in mind, three areas will be the focus of 2011:
- Reinforcing aid to established markets: Following the model of the series of premieres organized in London in April 2010, we will extend this kind of event to other European countries. In addition, subtitling aid, tested in Flanders, will be extended to Switzerland and Quebec so that films acquired for these territories can receive wider releases in non-French-language zones. Lastly, dubbing assistance (particularly for animated films) will be proposed to exporters to encourage sales in territories where dubbed versions are a triggering factor.
- Developing emerging markets: Unifrance's collective mission is to be ahead of new markets as they arise on the scene and to intervene as early as possible in order to establish a presence for French films in emerging markets. Hence, the projects in Cuba (Latin American market) Kazakhstan and Vietnam that were carried out in 2010 will be continued in 2011. In the Maghreb, Unifrance will join forces with other promotional organizations of French-language countries to tour a selection of French-language films in Morocco, Tunisia, and Algeria.
- Lastly, the creation of digital tools : the on-line festival (myfrenchfilmfestival.com), which will take place January 14 through 29, 2011, will be available worldwide and in 10 languages (Arabic, English, French, German, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Portuguese, Russian, and Spanish). It will propose 10 features, 10 short films, and a heritage film). This totally new experiment is obviously destined to be developed in the years ahead and to be put to use as a way to digitally promote French films. At the same time, Unifrance is developing a platform dedicated to short films, which should increase the circulation of these films throughout the world and facilitate their exportation and their visibility at festivals.
| Antoine de Clermont-Tonnerre and Régine Hatchondo |
