Unifrance Rendez-Vous In Paris Unfolds Amid Complex Time For French Films As Local Indie Biz Internationalizes

French film sales agents have been busy this week at Unifrance’s 28th Rendez-vous in Paris.

More than 40 films sales companies participated in the event, billed as the biggest market devoted to French cinema outside of the Cannes Film Festival, presenting their lineups to 400 buyers from 40 territories.

They were joined in the market, running from January 14 to 16 in the Pullman Montparnasse hotel in Paris by another 50 audiovisual sales companies and 100 TV buyers.

The accompanying Paris Screenings in the neighboring Pathé Parnasse cinema showcased 71 features, 39 of which were world premieres, and another eight TV shows.

Film highlights included the opening theatre-themed comedy-drama La Comedie-Française sold by Charades, as well as market premieres for widely sold animated feature The Legendaries (Goodfellas Animation), Gilles de Maistre’s The Desert Child (Studiocanal) and comedy franchise Oh La La 2 (SND).

Another big draw for film distributors is the opportunity to talk films coming down the pipeline, especially those aiming for a Cannes splash. Hot upcoming titles in post-production this year include Asghar Farhadi’s French-language Parallel Tales (Charades); Pierre Salvadori’s Venus Electrificata (Goodfellas) and Guillaume Canet’s Karma (Studiocanal).

“They might not have a promo-reel, but it’s still opportunity to get the ball-rolling,” Unifrance Managing Director Daniela Elstner told Deadline. “The Rendez-vous helps the sellers kick off their year. All the European buyers are here.”

There was a buzzy atmosphere at the market when Deadline checked it out on Thursday afternoon, with a hum of chatter across the open-plan booth layout as sellers took back-to-back meetings, although those canvassed cautioned that it remained to be seen whether the talk converted into transactions.

In the backdrop, it is a complex time for French cinema.

International box office figures released by Unifrance on the eve of the market revealed that while global receipts for minority and majority French productions rose 6% to $317 million in 2025, admissions for French-language features fell to 17.1 million in 2025, against 25.8m in 2024.

The chart for France’s top ten minority and majority produced exports had a particularly international feel, with Latvian-French-Belgian coproduction Flow in the number one slot, and other top performers including Brazilian director Walter Salles’ Oscar-winning drama I’m Still Here, Norwegian filmmaker Joachim Trier’s Sentimental Value and Iranian director Jafar Panahi’s It Was Just An Accident, which is France’s entry to the Oscars this year.

The top-performing French majority live action films were Besson’s English-Dracula: A Love Tale; Jacques Audiard’s Spanish-language Emilia Pérez, and Emmanuel Courcol’s The Marching Band, which was the only French-language live action film in the top ten.  

French-language productions were similarly absent from the 2025 national box office chart, with comedy franchise God Save The Tuche the only local production to make it into the top ten in sixth place.

Elstner warns against drawing conclusions.

“Is it a trend? I don’t think so… I’m always a bit wary about rushing to conclusions because these figures are always so dependent on one or two titles,” she said.

The Unifrance MD suggests rather that the data points to France’s long-time position as a major backer of international independent cinema as well as the increasingly international nature of its own film industry.

“At a time and in a world where more and more filmmakers are struggling to finance their films at home, either for financial or political reasons, France is a country that has kept its door wide open… and we end up with a film like that of Jafar Panahi, which is majority financed by France.”

She points to Panahi’s producers Philippe Martin and David Thion at Pélleas Films as being among the local professionals combining French and international no-how and talent, alongside the likes of Charles Gillibert, whose recent credits include Alice Winocour’s Angelina Jolie-starring drama Couture, Kristen Stewart’s Chronology of Water and Jim Jarmusch’s Father Mother Sister Brother.

“There’s also Marie-Ange Luciani,” she added, referring to the  producer of Anatomy of a Fall director Justine Triet whose next feature will be in English, with A-list stars rumored to be attached.

Elstner also pointed to the rising number of U.S. indie directors coming to France to shoot their films, such as Jarmusch and Richard Linklater, as well other Hollywood talents taking up residence in the country.

“It’s a bit limiting to only look at French cinema through the lens of French-language films or works reflecting French culture, the savoir-faire goes beyond that… we’ve always been strong in coproductions, and this is perhaps growing.”

“When George Clooney takes French citizenship that means something,” she added.

Other highlights of the Rendez-vous included U.S. indie distributor Janus Films winning the Unifrance Distribution Prize for its release of Alain Guiraudie’s Misercordia, while French director Cédric Klapisch awas feted with the French Cinema Award in recognition of his career spanning more than 20 features including Pot Luck (Auberge Espagnol), Chinese Puzzle and most recently Colours of Time.

In his acceptance speech at a champagne reception at the Ministry of Culture on Thursday evening, Klapisch echoed Eltsner’s comments on the arrival of more U.S. talent, in relation to his own films studies at the New York University in the 1980s.

“I started my film studies in the United States… I don’t know if there are still French people going to the United States now, but I’m not sure it’s as appealing today, and strangely enough, now there are major American actors and directors coming to France. That didn’t exist before,” he said. “I think we’re at a rather important moment because, in terms of travel, things have reversed.”

The Unifrance Rendez-vous in Paris continues over the weekend into early next week with its famously large press junket hosting 120 international journalists from 30 countries for interviews with the directors and cast of 83 French films and nine TV shows.