the large French audiovisual market migrates from Biarritz to Le Havre

2023-11-09 08:19:00

End clap for Biarritz. After sixteen years spent in the mildness of the Basque late season, the Unifrance Audiovisual Meetings will anchor in Le Havre in September 2024. Little known to the general public, but very popular among the microcosm and international buyers, the The event is intended to be “ the largest market in the world for French audiovisual works “. For three days, around sixty French distributors will seek to sell their fiction, series, documentaries or animated programs to around 200 buyers (broadcasters and platforms), coming from around fifty countries.

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In charge, the TV branch (formerly TV France International) of Unifrance: a structure charged, by the National Center for Cinema and Animated Images and the public authorities, with promoting blue and white cinema and audiovisual , red outside our borders. Works that export rather well. Last year, international sales of French audiovisual programs reached a record level of nearly 215 million euros.

When television plays it more sober

Despite these good results, the organizers decided to change the scenery for their thirtieth edition.

« Unifrance wanted to breathe new life into these Meetings, while maintaining a particularly effective formula. », Explains the general director of Unifrance in charge of audiovisual and digital to La Tribune.

In October, during Mipcom, International Communication Programs Market of Cannes, Sarah Hemar had notably invoked with The Tribune issues of sobriety and cost reduction.

« PFor our buyers arriving at Roissy airport, we had to charter a special plane to Biarritz at an extremely expensive rate. This equation is no longer possible”, she had justified. The choice of Le Havre, located two hours from Paris by train, was therefore a natural choice.

“She is an ideal candidate: the proximity of the capital makes the market more accessible, whether for buyers, sellers or artists », now argues Sarah Hemar.

The prices of hotels and restaurants, less prohibitive than on the Basque coast, also weighed in the balance, confides Unifrance. But not only. By moving closer to the Eiffel Tower, those responsible hope, in the process, to increase the participation figures, which are down this year. “ Buyers also face economic or ecological issues » they note.

Normandy rolls out the red carpet

The relocation of these meetings, punctuated by themed lunches and dinners, including a gala evening, might also have been motivated by weak links with the Nouvelle-Aquitaine Region and the City of Biarritz.

Already host to the International Documentary Festival (Fipadoc), the latter indeed seems determined to capitalize further on its Biarritz Latin America festival, also scheduled for September.

Conversely, Normandy and Le Havre rolled out the red carpet. The Region tells us that it is committed to financing “ in nature » a gala dinner for an amount of around 50,000 euros. As for the City, it should grant a subsidy which, according to our information, should reach an equivalent sum, subject to its approval by the municipal council.

« Unifrance will be able to rely on significant support from local authorities, whether at the city or regional level, already invested in supporting French audiovisual and cinema “, welcomes Sarah Hemar.

It is true that Hervé Morin, president of the Region, and Edouard Philippe, mayor of Le Havre who himself became co-author of the series for the adaptation of his political thriller ” In the dark ” produced by France Télévisions, both display an appetite for the seventh art.

Although the production aid granted by Normandy (2.3 million euros) was in 2022 the second least generous of the metropolitan regions*, ahead of that of Burgundy-Franche-Comté, its president is proud of having created a new fund of 500,000 euros to support the filming of series. As for the city of the former Prime Minister, it has hosted National Meetings on the Le Havre Series since 2015. In addition, last June she launched Les Révélations, an event which promotes images and cinema.

Le Havre, a cinematic potential

Very cinematic, the ocean city, listed as a UNESCO world heritage site, is also known for attracting filmmakers. The latest, Vincent Maël Cardona. Caesarized in 2022 for his film The Magneticsthe person concerned filmed the series there Of Grace which relates a dark affair of cocaine trafficking on port docks, broadcast in early 2024 on Arte.

On the audiovisual level, Normandy currently seems to be in the spotlight. Pierre-Antoine Capton, CEO of the Mediawan group and happy owner of a villa in Trouville and the Malherbe stadium in Caen, said in West France that he is working on a new major international series in Deauville, with the saga of the Barrière group, casinos and races in his sights.

Mediawan is simultaneously working on another project relating to William the Conqueror, whose millennium will be celebrated in Caen in 2025. The group indicated that it had “ discussed several times with Hervé Morin “. So many subjects that might come back to the table during the Unifrance Meetings.

*Source: annual overview of territorial interventions produced by Ciclic, the Centre-Val de Loire regional agency for books, images and digital culture