🎥 Newsletter Unifrance

Often, the return after the summer break, like the seasons, comes and goes. This year, summer and the beginning of fall in Paris, punctuated by the Olympic and Paralympic Games, unfolded in a cheerful, sporting atmosphere. At the heart of this special period, the Venice Film Festival took place, as it does every year at the end of August, with an edition rich in French films across all sections, and a harvest of awards. Of particular note, for their performances, Vincent Lindon in The Quiet Son by Delphine and Muriel Coulin, and Paul Kircher in Their Children After Them, by Ludovic and Zoran Boukherma, received the awards for Best Actor and Best Young Actor respectively.

But post-summer period also saw a first: for their 30th edition, Unifrance's audiovisual Rendez-Vous took up residence in Le Havre. A new venue, a new horizon, a new atmosphere: nothing was how it had been before, everything was new, not only for buyers and audiovisual distributors, but also for the Unifrance team. Under fairly mild skies, we were able to discover a city and a region of character and particularly welcoming, with fine infrastructures and an exceptional cultural and gastronomic heritage! Above all, we were delighted to note the high level of satisfaction among our guests. Events included the first Deadline French TV Disruptor Award, presented to screenwriter and director Noé Debré by the American online entertainment news site; the gala evening with the screening of the first episode of Ça c'est Paris, a series created by Marc Fitoussi, Edgard F. Grima, and Jérôme Bruno, followed by an exclusive show presented by the Paradis Latin dancers. These events, alongside a hectic market with incessant meetings, contributed directly to making this edition a resounding success. Well done and thank you all for your contribution, next year we'll feel even better. Special thanks to the Mayor of Le Havre, Edouard Philippe, and the President of the Région Normandie, Hervé Morin, for welcoming us with such enthusiasm and warmth.

In collaboration with the CNC, Unifrance also announced the figures for audiovisual exports in 2023, with overall sales stabilizing at more than €200 million – the third time this level has been exceeded in 30 years – and a healthy share for French drama. We're also confident about 2024, and convinced that the business concluded in Le Havre will make a major contribution to the current year's sales!

As we all know, September is a month full of events, and our teams are extremely busy. This week, at the Festivall Off-Courts in Trouville, the figures for short films in 2023 were announced, with a spectacular increase in sales compared with 2022. And while some are returning from the Toronto Film Festival, others are already at the Festival de la Fiction in La Rochelle, or preparing to leave for San Sebastián. And with them, French films begin their journey, ready to seduce audiences the world over, as demonstrated by the success in foreign cinemas of The Count of Monte Cristo by Alexandre de La Patellière and Matthieu Delaporte, and A Little Something Extra by Artus.

Films also travel, thanks to Unifrance's online festivals, which enable titles to reach audiences all over the world. In less than a month, the second edition of MyMetaStories opens, a unique event run with the support of the Creative Europe MEDIA program. This highly inventive undertaking, which links cinema and video games to promote creativity, the circulation of works, and reinvigorating audiences' attention, will offer 20 European films – seven feature-length films and 13 shorts subtitled in six languages, through a double digital experience – via VOD platforms and in Minecraft®. This year, the Minecraft® universe specially designed for MyMetaStories will include, for the first time in its virtual cinema, a feature-length film, creating a gateway for gamers to discover European feature films.

Films also travel, thanks to Unifrance's online festivals, which enable titles to reach audiences all over the world. In less than a month, the second edition of MyMetaStories opens, a unique event run with the support of the Creative Europe MEDIA program. This highly inventive undertaking, which links cinema and video games to promote creativity, the circulation of works and the renewal of audiences, will offer 20 European films – seven feature-length films and 13 shorts subtitled in six languages, through a double digital experience – via VOD platforms and in Minecraft®. This year, the Minecraft® universe specially designed for MyMetaStories will, for the first time in its virtual cinema, include a feature-length film, creating a gateway for gamers to discover European feature films.

Clearly, no post-summer season is ever quite the same in our cinema and audiovisual sphere!

Daniela Elstner
Executive Director of Unifrance