Unifrance’s Daniela Elstner says attendance is more sought-after than even as French sales agents prepare to showcase their 2023 line-ups
Unifrance’s annual Rendez-Vous in Paris (January 10-17, 2023) is the first chance of the year for French sales companies to unveil their local-language titles and create early buzz, and for global buyers looking to stock up on titles for the year ahead. After a full online 2021 event and hybrid 2022, this year, Unifrance’s executive director Daniela Elstner says, “Everyone wants to come back.”
Rendez-Vous has become so in demand that Unifrance has to carefully select who they invite and “put the brakes on” for US and Asian buyers to keep it a European-focused event. “French sellers don’t have time to see everyone,” says Elstner, who limits it to “people with a history of buying French films, not just anyone”.
According to early figures from Unifrance, more than 400 buyers from 40 countries, 40 French sales companies and around 120 journalists from across Europe will attend. Nearly 90 market screenings have already been planned including more than 50 market premieres. For the first time, a new TV strand will give 106 buyers from 27 countries the chance to meet 63 French distribution companies.
Elstner calls founder Daniel Toscan du Plantier’s January timing of the event “visionary” and added the appeal of Rendez-Vous is different from one country to the next.
“Belgian and Swiss buyers come more to meet with people and read scripts,” she reveals, while other buyers stick to a classic market formula whereby they watch screenings rather than buy titles for their upcoming slates.
Definition of success
Many French sellers who skipped either AFM or Rome are planning to use the 2023 event to launch market premiere titles ahead of Berlin and Cannes. Elstner expects European buyers to be on the lookout for “films that work well in theatres”. She adds: “People in the industry have stayed optimistic and ambitious — they want to work hard for their films to work.”
While comedies and family films have always been strong sellers for the French market, Elstner says there is “huge excitement for next year”, particularly around big-budget potential crowd-pleasers such as Pathé’s $64m (€60m) live-action Asterix & Obelix: The Middle Kingdom starring Marion Cotillard as Cleopatra and Vincent Cassel as Cesar, and two-part adventure The Three Musketeers: D’Artagnan and The Three Musketeers: Milady.
She also expects plenty of interest in “intelligent, good quality films that can travel to festivals.”
Elstner says her definition of the success of a French film has changed. “Before, it was just admissions — and we need those, of course — but that is a reductive approach to our mission. Several films make it to many different territories and, even if they’re not selling millions of tickets, they are generating media coverage and giving the titles and talents notoriety.”
She cites Albert Serra’s Franco-Spanish 2022 Cannes Competition title Pacifiction: “It won’t make millions abroad, but it’s at every festival and winning every award.” She also cites “films that are successful in one or two countries” such as Céline Sciamma’s Petite Maman, which worked well in the UK and the US when “some other films don’t work [in those territories] at all.”
Other titles don’t necessarily wow audiences in France but find audiences abroad. Elstner has high hopes for Mia Hansen-Love’s One Fine Morning, which sold fewer than 100,000 tickets during its French box office run in October and November, but is headed for international release in 2023, with Sony Pictures Classics handling the US market.
Finding new ways of reaching audiences is now key to Unifrance’s mission. The organisation has its own YouTube channel that is bolstered by additional content, creative ideas and partnerships with young creators. It is aimed at a global audience and enhanced by market-specific campaigns such as a pilot local-language social media campaign in Germany.
“We can’t just continue to do B2B, we really have to speak to audiences directly and help our distributors target the right audiences,” says Elstner. “We have to create a real desire for French productions.”
Paris innovations
The 2023 event, the 25th edition of the Rendez-Vous, will open with the world premiere of Francois Ozon’s My Crime (see below) and close with the Lumière Awards at the Forum des Images in Paris.
Export Day on January 10 will bring together distributors, broadcasters, producers, international sales agents, talents and institutions from France, Europe and the US for a series of industry talks. Held at Publicis Cinémas on the Champs-Elysées, the morning will feature two round tables – one devoted to cinema and the other with an audiovisual focus – and in the afternoon, a focus on new modes of consumption from metaverses to other new formats to attract younger audiences. Unifrance will also present case studies of French films that were successful abroad during the past year and highlight trends in the French audiovisual industry.
The second edition of the French TV Screenings will take place on January 10-11 at the Club de l’Etoile featuring exclusive presentations of French programmes for TV buyers. Ken Loach is expected to present Ken Loach: The Art of Activism for Arte Distribution, Federation is unveling its prestige drama slate complete with appearances from mother-son directing duo Danièle and Christopher Thompson and actress Julia de Nunez for series Bardot, Mediawan Rights will present upcoming fiction series including Haven Of Grace, Start Over and Drone Games, Newen Connect is bringing talent to support its event titles such as Polar Park and Syndrome E, and Studiocanal will screen the first episode of docuseries Air Cocaine.
After an experimental first year in 2021, Elstner says, “We are leaving every company freedom to show their line-ups, bring whatever talent they want. We give them a slot and they can opt to use it how they wish.”
Both the film and TV markets will happen at the same time at the Hôtel du Collectionneur with screenings taking place at nearby venues including Publicis Cinémas, the Club de l’Etoile, Le Lincoln and le Balzac theatres.
Further Rendez-Vous activities include the unveiling of Unifrance’s ‘10 to Watch’ rising stars of French cinema and the launch of the month-long online MyFrenchFilmFestival, streaming 10 feature films and 10 shorts subtitled in several languages for Francophile cinephiles worldwide.
Rendez-Vous in Paris: Titles to watch
The world premiere of Francois Ozon’s 1930s-set courtroom drama My Crime has the coveted opening slot of this year’s Rendez Vous. Sold by Playtime, it stars Nadia Tereszkiewicz and Rebecca Marder alongside Isabelle Huppert and Fabrice Luchini in a story about an actress accused of murdering a producer.
The film is produced by Mandarin Production’s Eric and Nicolas Altmayer. Gaumont will release the film in France on March 8.
Further titles to look out for include Elle Driver’s adventure drama The Lulus by Yann Samuell, adapted from a comic-book series about a group of young orphans at the dawn of the First World War. Also from Elle Driver is Guillaume Nicloux’s horror thriller Lockdown Tower. Nicloux is also behind SND’s The Baby (La Petite) from Les Films du Kiosque starring Fabrice Luchini and Mara Taquin. SND will show a promo reel of the story about grief and resilience at the market.
Also on SND’s slate is Lisa Azuelos’s The Book Of Wonders from Coda producers Philippe Rousselet and éric Jehelmann, starring Alexandra Lamy as a bereaved mother traveling around the world to fulfil her son’s bucket list. SND will market premiere Éric Besnard’s A Great Friend about an unlikely friendship between two very different men and starring Lambert Wilson, Grégory Gadebois and Marie Gillain.
Playtime has André Téchiné’s Les Âmes Soeurs, starring Benjamin Voisin and Noémie Merlant, about a young soldier injured in Mali who is repatriated to France for recovery.
Les Films du Losange is unveiling Benoit Jacquot’s doc Par Coeurs, which captures French megastars Isabelle Huppert and Fabrice Luchini as they prepare to perform on stage.
Other anticipated titles include Laurent Tirard’s Juste Ciel!, sold by Charades. Charades is also handling Giacomo Abbruzzese’s Disco Boy, which weaves intertwining stories in Paris and the Niger Delta, and Noé Debré’s A Good Jewish Boy (Le Dernier Des Juifs) starring Agnes Jaoui and Michael Zindel about a mother and son who find themselves the last Jewish residents in town and contemplate their future.
Also on Charades’ slate is Chicken For Linda! from directing duo Chiara Malta and Sébastien Laudenbach about a mother trying to make amends with her daughter by attempting to cook her favourite chicken dish on the day of a national strike.
Farang, from Hitman and Cold Skin director Xavier Gens, is sold by Studiocanal and follows a prisoner who escapes to Thailand where he is drawn back to crime. Meanwhile, Pyramide International is presenting Lucie Borleteau’s A Mon Seul Désir and Alice Zeniter and Benoit Volnais’s Before We Collapse (Avant L’Effondrement).
Orange Studio is showing first footage from Léa Domenach’s anticipated Bernadette starring Catherine Deneuve as former French first lady Bernadette Chirac, which will be distributed by Warner Bros. France.
Orange will also market premiere Virginie Sauveur’s Magnificat, starring Karin Viard and Francois Berléand, about a recently deceased priest who was actually a woman. Orange also has Cécile Telerman’s comedy All Because Of The Cat (Ma Langue Au Chat), about a group of friends on holiday dealing with the disappearance of a cat.
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