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| Launch party at the Intercontinental Grand Hotel in Paris for the 18th Rendezvous with French Cinema Photo: Richard Mowe |
The first major market of the year for French cinema opened last night (14 January) in Paris where hundreds of buyers, distributors, sales agents and press gathered for the annual Unifrance Rendezvous with French Cinema based around the Intercontinental Grand Hotel and the Gaumont Opera Capucines cinemas along one of the traditional boulevards in the heart of the City of Light.
Despite France’s continuing high state of terror alert in the wake of the Bataclan attacks and the anniversary of the Charlie Hebo massacre, the mood among the assembled throng was convivial, although searches on the way in to cinemas, hotels and shops has become obligatory and a constant reminder of the vulnerability of daily life in any major city.
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| Lining up at the Gaumont Opera Capucines - the team from A Mighty Team with Unifrance’s
Jean-Paul Salomé and Isabelle Giordano (second and third from left). Photo: Richard Mowe |
The French industry can justify a certain joie de vivre because according to the latest available figures released by Unifrance, French films drew in 120.2 million admissions around the globe in 2014, to generate €685.2million or $726million, marking a 137 per cent rise on 2013 when le cinéma français drew only around 50 million admissions internationally.
It was only the second time in 20 years that international admissions topped 100 million. The “exports” were led by Luc Besson’s English-language production Lucy, which sold 56 million tickets in 70 territories, followed by Serial (Bad) Weddings, Beauty And The Beast, Grace Of Monaco, Minuscule: Valley of the Lost Ants, Malavita, Belle And Sébastien, Nicholas On Holiday, Superchondriac and Yves Saint Laurent.
Top art-house exports included Asghar Farhadi’s The Past, Wim Wenders and Juliano Ribeiro Salgado’s documentary The Salt Of The Earth; Olivier Nakache and Eric Toledano’s Omar Sy-starrer Samba and Cannes Palme d’Or winner Blue Is The Warmest Colour.
The figures highlight the underlying importance of the international market for the French film industry, which generated more entries for its films than its home market, where local films attracted 91.26 million spectators to take a 44% share in 2014.
One of the less buoyant countries for French cinema is the UK. The poor performance of French films in the UK market prompted the organisers to describe the situation as “alarming”. The report said that the UK remained a difficult market with fewer and fewer French films making it onto screens in the territory and only one majority French production generating more than 50,000 admissions.
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| Game on: Gérard Depardieu and Medi Sadoun who play pére and fils in A Mighty Team, a new French soccer comedy |
Jean-Paul Salomé, president of Unifrance, said: “This event originally was created originally 18 years ago by the late Daniel Toscan du Planter as an all-encompassing meeting point at the start of the year for French producers, professionals, foreign distributors, press and industry insiders. There is a big increase in the number of so far unseen new titles than previous years which is a sign of the diversity and buoyant health of the French industry today. Thank you to the buyers from other countries who have come here not only to take advantage of the January sales in the big shops but also to do business with us.”
On the subject of the UK Salomé said: “A decade ago or so ago there was a renewed interest in French cinema, perhaps thanks to distribution and production outfit UGC’s bid to break into the market, led by films like Amélie, and later on Guillaume Canet’s Tell No One. But since then the market has shrunk, not just for French films, but we get a sense it’s tough for all non-English language films.”
The gala opening film was a preview of A Mighty Team, a formulaic domestic football comedy (directed by Thomas Sorriaux) about a star player (Medi Sadoun) who is forced by injury to return to his home village and rekindle his roots by training an under-14 team. Gérard Depardieu plays his estranged father with whom he tries to settle old scores. It is due in French cinemas shortly, where undoubtedly it will pack them in. Its future career elsewhere is more doubtful - at least that was the buzz among those at the cocktail in the Grand Hotel after the show.
Tonight (15) the Minister of Foreign Affairs Laurent Fabius will host a media reception at the Quai d’Orsay while tomorrow a dinner at the Eiffel Tower will mark the launch of My French Film Festival, the online film festival inaugurated six years ago and which allows film fans all over the world to stream some of the latest titles and vote on their top choice.
