9th French Film Panorama in China

This year's line-up, which was put together in collaboration with the Chinese film industry authorities, includes nine feature films and ten short films that will be presented to audiences in Beijing, Shanghai, Shenzhen, Chengdu, Shenyang, and Xian. Spectators will have the chance to see a collection of films that reflect the current diversity of genres offered by French cinema, screened at a selection of cinemas and multiplexes around the nation. Film screenings will be followed by discussions with audiences.

The following films will be presented in original version with Chinese subtitles:
The Art of Love by Emmanuel Mouret, Early One Morning by Jean-Marc Moutout, Against the wind by Jalil Lespert, The Fairy by Dominique Abel and Fiona Gordon, Here Below by Jean-Pierre Denis, Declaration of War by Valérie Donzelli, Free Men by Ismaël Ferroukhi, My Worst Nightmare by Anne Fontaine, and A Happy Event by Rémi Bezançon.

These titles will be accompanied by two short film programs, including the following titles: Aglaée by Rudi Rosenberg, A Shadow of Blue by Carlos Lascano, Cheveu by Julien Hallard, Expiration by Cheng-Chui Kuo Winter Frog by Slony Sow, Paris Shanghai by Thomas Cailley, Carrying Men by Antarès Bassis, Rumours by Fritz Standaert, Everyone Says I Love You by Cécile Ducrocq, and Still Standing by Foued Mansour.
The artistic delegation, composed of directors of the films selected, along with uniFrance Films president Antoine de Clermont-Tonnerre and Antoine Rein, producer at Delante Films, will be in China from April 11 through 17. They will spend three days in Beijing, two days in Shanghai, followed by the last leg of their trip spent in Shenzhen and Chengdu. The crew members present will promote their films with the Chinese media and take part in meetings with audiences and French Cinema Lessons.

Only three French films were released on Chinese screens in 2011, showing a decline over 2010 (7 films): Arthur and the War of the Two Worlds (270,000 admissions), Paris Express (680,000 admissions), and Oceans (800,000 admissions). However, 2012 has got off to a good start for French films in China, with three titles already distributed: Point Blank, Largo Winch II, and The Prey. A fourth film, RTT by Frédéric Berthe, is slated for release in theaters on the opening day of the French Film Panorama.

The success of the Online French Film Festival, which was presented on the Youku platform in January this year (1.1 million viewings in one month) bears witness to the enthusiasm of Chinese audiences, whose desire to discover new films is constrained by the national quota system imposed on the release of foreign films in theaters. UniFrance Films will take full advantage of the Panorama event to continue to encourage the broadening of this quota system.