The international success of French cinema [fr]
For the second year running, in 2015 French films sold more tickets abroad than on the domestic market. The French Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Development (MAEDI), together with its operators and audiovisual and cultural network, contribute effectively to disseminating French cinema abroad.
The year 2016 also started with excellent figures for French cinema abroad, which were announced by Unifrance:
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Some key figures
For the 3rd time in only 4 years, French films surpassed the threshold of 100 million viewers abroad. With takings of €600 million at the box office abroad, in 2015 French cinema celebrated its 3rd best foreign year in over 20 years. 20% of those tickets were for animation films.
- Asia has become the leading film export destination for French films with 28.9 million tickets, ahead of Western Europe (25.6 million tickets), Latin America (22.3 million tickets) and North America (15.4 million tickets).
- The 6th edition of the online MyFrenchFilmFestival boasted a record success since its creation, with 6.5 million viewings from 18 January to 18 February 2016.
For more information on the MyFrenchFilmFestival: http://en.unifrance.org
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The year 2015 was crowned with success
- The Petit Prince became, with 15 million tickets, the biggest French animation film success worldwide in 20 years. At the event organized on 15 January 2016 at the Quai d’Orsay, its producers won the Unifrance French Film Award.
- A further indicator of French dynamism and know-how: the Gobelins film school was ranked the top animation school in the world, and three other French schools were in the top 10 of the 2015 Animation Career Review (ACR) rankings
- France was officially represented at the 2016 Oscars by the film Mustang in the best foreign language film category thanks to the support of the French National Centre for Cinema (CNC) and the French Institute (IF).
- French cinema has also been very successful in international festivals: Dheepan won the Palme d’Or, Vincent Lindon and Emmanuelle Bercot won the Award for Best Actor and Best Actress at Cannes and Fabrice Luchini the Coppa Volpi for Best Actor at Venice, while Mother(s) won the Award for Best International Short Film at Toronto (TIFF 2015), etc.
As the key driver of France’s attractiveness, the success of French film exports is a major asset for economic diplomacy. The year 2016 is again expected to highlight the diversity of French cinema, notably with the documentary Seasons by Jacques Perrin, the animation film Ballerina, the comedy The Visitors 3, the thrillers Blood Father and Shut In by Jean-François Richet, as well as Monsieur Chocolat by Roschdy Zem, Cézanne et moi by Danièle Thompson, Being Seventeen by André Téchiné, Personal Shopper by Olivier Assayas, A Woman’s Life by Stéphane Brizé, Planetarium by Rebecca Zlotowski, and Mal de pierres by Nicole Garcia.