This Monday, September 2nd, marked the beginning of the 30th edition of the Rendez-vous organized by Unifrance, the largest global market for French-language content. This year, the event took place in the Norman city of Le Havre, where Gilles Pélisson (President of Unifrance), in the presence of Édouard Philippe (Mayor of Le Havre and former Prime Minister) and Olivier Henrard (Acting President of the CNC), welcomed the 180 accredited foreign buyers.
‘Many people were surprised by the choice of Le Havre as the venue for this Rendez-vous. The city was completely destroyed after the war and, thanks to architects, it reinvented itself, much like television and animation have had to reinvent themselves, especially to reach new generations’, commented Pélisson on the openning dinner on Monday’s night.
Yesterday, during the first day of market, at the Cinéma Pathé Docks Vauban, the production companies Silex Films and ARTE France presented the animated series The Legends of Paris: A Tale of the 19th Century Artistic Scene, consisting of four 52-minute episodes. Judit Nora, the Series Producer, and Joséphine Létang, Head of International Distribution and Marketing of ARTE, spoke about the beauty of this work and the challenge of bringing to life a project that took over six years to complete. ‘We are very proud of this project. We would also like to mention our director Amélie Harrault,’ added Létang. Entirely told in traditional 2D animation, this series recounts the story of literary and artistic Paris between 1824 and 1870.
In addition, the CNC (Centre National du Cinéma et de l’Image Animée) and Unifrance took advantage of the event to present their classic key data on the export of French content yearly. ‘French audiovisual exports reached €203.4 million, surpassing the €200 million mark for the third time in 30 years, despite the decline in international budgets. French fiction led sales with €74.5 million, highlighting series like HPI and Marie-Antoinette’, commented about it, Cécile Lacoue. Director at CNC.
Sarah Hemar, Director of Audiovisual at Unifrance, also offered some data: ‘Documentary maintained strong performance with € 47.2 million, while animation fell to € 51.2 million. Western Europe was the main market (46.8% of sales), followed by North America. Co-productions increased, particularly in animation (+54%) and fiction (+50.8%), while foreign pre-sales declined’.
The first day concluded at the Cinéma Pathé Docks Vauban, where Federation Studios France and Mon Voisin Productions presented the drama series Ça, c’est Paris, created by Marc Fitoussi (La Vie d’artiste and Copacabana) and co-written by Edgard F. Grima and Jérôme Bruno. In its six 1-hour episodes, the series tells the story of Gaspard Berthille, director of Tout-Paris, a famous cabaret that keeps the myth of Parisian wild nights alive.
