uniFrance Films is currently organizing its second worldwide Online French Film Festival presenting 10 French feature films and 10 French short films in competition, accessible in 14 languages.
The first MyFrenchFilmFestival.com Online French Film Festival, presented by uniFrance Films in partnership with Allociné and with support from the CNC, was held January 14 through 29, 2011. The event attracted 320,000 Internet users from 171 countries around the world and registered 40,000 viewings.
Bolstered by the success of this first festival, its second edition will now be extended to three weeks, to be held January 12 through February 1, 2012. Initially accessible in 10 languages, films will now be subtitled in 14 languages: Arabic, Chinese, English, French, German, Hebrew, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Lithuanian, Polish, Portuguese, Russian, and Spanish.
10 feature films and 10 short films will be presented to Internet users around the world via our platform MyFrenchFilmFestival.com. These films are first and second features released in France since January 2010 and short films produced since 2010. This selection of films throws the spotlight on new generation French actors and actresses (such as Léa Seydoux, Anaïs Demoustier, Pio Marmaï, and Laura Smet) and filmmakers (such as Valérie Donzelli, Louis Garrel, Xabi Molia, and Katell Quillévéré), whose films have traveled to many international film festivals but have not yet been released in theaters abroad. As well as including one heritage film in its out-of-competition program, the upcoming festival will also showcase two films from Quebec-one feature film and one short film presented in partnership with Téléfilm Canada.
Three awards will be offered: an Audience Award, an International Press Award, and a Social Media Award. Audiences will have the chance to vote for their favorite film, while the jury for the International Press Award is composed of 10 journalists from major international dailies. The Social Media Award is represented by 100 influential personalities from blogs, Facebook, and Twitter from 20 countries. The 3 feature films and 3 short films awarded prizes will be screened on Air France flights over a period of 6 months from June 1, 2012.
A viewing fee is charged in the majority of countries, accessible on our platform or via various platforms hosting the event: Dailymotion and Mubi around the world, Filmin in Spain, through IPTV thanks to SnagFilms in the USA, KT in Korea, and J.Com in Japan.
The film selection will be broadcast free of charge in a number of territories. Free access is available in Russia and Latin America (where titles will be broadcast on Terra, the region's leading video platform) in exchange for a fee paid to the films' rights holders by the event's private partner Varilux. Films are accessible free of charge in Italy thanks to a partnership with BNL, in China on the Youku platform (26 million visitors per day), and in Germany thanks to a partnership with Allociné via filmstarts.de.
Preview screenings to launch the event will be held in theaters in London, Berlin, Los Angeles, and Seoul, made possible by a partnership with the SACD. One film from the festival selection will be presented at a preview screening held in the presence of the film's director or cast members, with a recorded broadcast of the event accessible on the festival website.
The French Institute has committed to acquiring the non-commercial rights of films selected each year for the online festival, with the aim of ensuring that these films benefit from exposure as part of the cultural program presented at French Institutes around the world.
The selection
Films in Competition
Feature Films
- Eight Times Up by Xabi Molia
- Dear Prudence by Rebecca Zlotowski
- Back to Square One by Thomas Ngijol, Fabrice Eboué, Lionel Steketee
- Living on Love Alone by Isabelle Czajka
- Into Our Own Hands by Mariana Otero
- 18 years old and rising by Frédéric Louf
- Queen of Hearts by Valérie Donzelli
- Memory Lane by Mikhael Hers
- Pauline and François by Renaud Fely
- Love Like Poison by Katell Quillevéré
Short Films
- Aglaée by Rudi Rosenberg
- God's the One to Tell by Elsa Diringer
- Specky Four-Eyes by Jean-Claude Rozec
- Drippedby Léo Verrier
- I Coud've been a Hooker by Baya Kasmi
- The Piano Tuner by Olivier Treiner
- Man's Best Friend by Vincent Mariette
- The Silence Beneath the Bark by Joanna Lurie
- Dear Abbot by Blandine Lenoir
- The Little Tailor by Louis Garrel
Films presented Out of Competition
Heritage Film: The Trip Across Paris by Claude Autant-Lara
Feature Film from Quebec: La Vérité by Marc Bisaillon
Short Film from Quebec: Trotteur by Francis Leclerc and Arnaud Brisebois
