After a particularly strong year for French cinema at home, all eyes are on Paris this week as local and international buyers head to the 27th edition of Unifrance’s Rendez-Vous with French Cinema for a first look at the films poised to hit screens and festivals in 2025.
“It’s a major event, the only moment during the year when buyers’ attention is 100% focused on French films, and when they take the time to watch completed projects,” says Marie-Laure Montironi, EVP of international sales and TV France at Pathe International.
Taking place from January 14-21, some 1,000 attendees from 44 countries are expected at the Rendez-Vous, including 400 European film buyers and 100 TV buyers. The market launches with the world premiere of Gregory Magne’s The Musician, starring Frederic Pierrot and Valerie Donzelli, as part of a violin quartet, which is being sold by Pyramide International.
There is a new hub for the ever-expanding event at the Hotel Pullman Montparnasse, with market screenings to be concentrated at the Pathé Parnasse, a 10-minute walk from the main venue, which has reopened after a five-year renovation.
“Unlike a festival market where they are waiting for press reviews, buyers come looking for that coup de coeur, that rare gem they really fall for,” suggests Unifrance’s managing director Daniela Elstner. “It is one of the rare markets where buyers can still walk out of a screening and buy a film right away.”
And buyers are arriving hungry, buoyed by success stories of French films in their territories.
“We just released The Marching Band, which we bought on script and promo basis at last year’s Rendez-Vous,” says Dorothee Pfistner, head of acquisitions at Germany’s Neue Visionen. “In 2023, one of our successes was Éric Besnard’s Les Choses Simples, which we also acquired after having screened it in Paris.”
In Canada, The Count Of Monte-Cristo has grossed C$1.4m for Montreal-based Sphere Films to become the highest-grossing French-language film in Canada for a decade. Sphere also released Monsieur Aznavour in 2023, grossing close to C$1 million.
“We are ready to make acquisitions in Paris,” says Victor Rego, managing director of Canada’s Sphere Films.
For other international buyers, the Rendez-Vous is the rock around which they build out their slates.
“It is the kick-off for the rest of our year when we begin to see our acquisition targets take shape,” says Franziska Bioh, acquisitions manager at MUBI. “The beginning of our conversations with French sellers for major titles tend to start at the Rendez-Vous, developed further in Berlin the following month.
“For Ira Sachs’ Passages, which we bought at Sundance 2023, the conversation was also started at the Rendez-Vous.”
For UK buyers who work in a challenging market for non-English-language films, the quick trip to Paris on the Eurostar makes the Rendez-Vous a good place to look for French films made by well-known filmmakers with the potential to break out.
“You need festival and critical support [to release a French film in the UK],” says Laura Wilson, head of acquisitions at London-based Altitude. “Anything not in the prestige auteur space is more tricky. Purely commercial films like French comedies are harder in the UK market.”
For Clare Binns, managing director of distributor-exhibitor Picturehouse Entertainment, “[The Rendez-Vous] is a great opportunity to meet with sales agents in a relaxed, but business environment and to be able to concentrate fully on what French films are coming up over the next couple of years. In a very challenging time for theatrical, we all need to work together to do right by filmmakers and this is a good couple of days to figure this out in what has always been a very collaborative event.”
While the films with official market screenings must be French-produced, sellers use the meetings with European buyers to tease the rest of their slate, with an eye to festivals later in the year.
“There are always side conversations, small talk about other international titles we have up our sleeves for later in the year,” says Totem Films’ founder Berenice Vincent, who is heading to the market with a trio of comedies from rising French auteurs on her slate.
In addition to the market, Rendez-Vous 2025 highlights include a new distribution award launched with the CNC to honour an international distribution company with an innovative release campaign for a French title.
Rebecca Zlotowski will receive this year’s French Cinema award during an annual lavish ceremony at France’s Ministry of Culture where the rising 10 to Watch talents for 2025 will be unveiled along with the jury for the upcoming MyFrenchFilmFestival.
The Rendez-Vous in Paris takes place from January 14-17, followed by a film and TV content press junket from January 18-21.
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