8 World V I D E O A G E October 2022 live, in-person affairs since 2019. Hailing from Italian-speaking Switzerland, RSI’s Gea Montorfani was back in Biarritz hoping to find a larger selection of dubbed titles. And TG4 Ireland’s Laura Ni Cheallaigh emphasized how the increase in buying competition and the reduced availability of U.S. content (which mostly ends up on the studios’ own streaming platforms) makes the supply of French TV fare — and European fare in general —more important. Unifrance’s Philippe Vacquié was very pleased with the turnout, considering the difficulties still existing for executives travelling from Asia. (There are sanitary restrictions, as well as some longer flight times due to the fact that many Asian airlines refuse to fly over Russian air space.) During the event, Unifrance held a press conference to release the 2021 figures for French audiovisual exports. Unifrance’s Sarah Hemar, together with CNC’s Cecile Lacoue and SEDPA’s Emmanuelle Jouanole, presented the detailed report. A total of 375.9 million euro (U.S. $380.24 million) in sales, pre-sales, and co-production investments was registered for French audiovisual programs in 2021. Sales in the drama genre were up 21.8 percent compared to 2020, while sales of animation and documentaries suffered a drop as a consequence of pandemicrelated delays. Animation remained the genre with the most exports. Western Eu-rope was still the biggest buyer of French content (with Germany, the U.K., and Italy at the top), followed by North America and Asia/Oceania. New this year was the presence of talent, part of Unifrance’s enhanced promotion strategy. A gala screening of historical series Diane de Poitiers (The King’s Favorite) saw the participation of cast members Isabelle Adjani, Hugo Becker, and Virginie Ledoyen, in addition to director and producer Josee Dayan and Passion Films’ Gaspard de Chavagnac (executive producer). Next year’s dates are set for September 3-7, 2023. Approximately 240 acquisition and programming executives, mostly from Western and Eastern Europe, attended Unifrance’s Rendez-Vous, in Biarritz, France, following a two-year COVID-related hiatus. The event was held at the Bellevue Conference Center, just like previous Rendez-Vous editions. This most recent event was the first organized by French media entity Unifrance, which absorbed original organizer TV France International during the pandemic. In Biarritz, buyers screened over 1,000 titles of French content and networked with representatives from 62 French distribution companies. The Rendez-Vous ended on September 8, after four days. In addition to buyers from Eastern Europe (with the exception of Russian companies, which were not invited), returning buyers included large contingents from Germany, Spain, and Italy, the main countries of export for French content. Many executives were particularly interested in documentaries, including Mediaset’s Giada Masina, who was glad to have the opportunity to screen new titles at the Rendez-Vous since the BBC Showcase (one of her company’s main sources of factual fare) has not yet returned to The Ups And Downs of French TV Content Sales (Continued from Page 6) (Continued on Page 10) THE GREAT WALL WITH ASH DYKES SECRETS OF THE INTERROGATION ROOM10x60’ IN-DEVELOPMENT IN-PRODUCTION Stone Joss 1x90/60’ Zig Zag Productions for www.bomanbridge.tv sales@bomanbridge.tv MIPCOM BOOTH P-1.G58 | 6x60’ 10x60’ Welcome to Football Leaks DRIVE and Wingman for
RkJQdWJsaXNoZXIy MTI4OTA5