In addition to Paris headquarters, UniFrance has three offices in New York, Beijing and Tokyo and a total of 30 employees, most of them with academic education in business, cinema and law.

Meeting with UniFrance Deputy Director of Markets and Surveys Gilles Renouard was among the programs scheduled for the delegation of Iranian moviemakers in Paris.

UniFrance is the responsible body to introduce the French cinema and support the presentation and exhibition of French films on an international scale. The association operates not as an organization or establishment in competition with France’s private sector but as an organization that pays support grants to assist and promote the universal presence and presentation of French films without an evaluation criteria, preference or selection process.

Gilles Renouard said: “UniFrance has an 8 million dollar annual budget, 80% of which is supplied by Centre national de la cinématographie (CNC) and the rest by annual financial sponsors.”

He further explained: “After the WWII, the government of France established a system to support the national artistic productions, aiming to protect the country’s art and culture. UniFrance is part of this support system. It supports producers, actors, directors, screenwriters, festival directors, cinema journalists and distributors of French films, with no expectation or discrimination.”

This association facilitates the presence and participation of French filmmakers in international markets and festivals, and provides free translations and subtitles for all French films headed for international markets and festivals. It also gives financial support to the organizers of French Film Weeks in other countries, with the objective to help present the cinema of France to the international audiences. As another aid to support the cinema of France, UniFrance undertakes half the rental cost for French film distributor’s booths in world markets. It also arranges meetings between French and foreign producers in France and other countries to facilitate joint productions. More than 35% of French films are made as joint production projects, co-produced by Germany, Italy, Brazil, Spain and this year’s addition, Turkey.

UniFrance also organizes French film openings in France to help the domestic sale. In addition to Paris headquarters, UniFrance has three offices in New York, Beijing and Tokyo and a total of 30 employees, most of them with academic education in business, cinema and law.

After refreshments, Gilles Renouard presented the Iranian guests with the latest UniFrance brochures and catalogues in introduction of French cinema, and expressed his hope for future cooperations between Iran and France in organizing bilateral film weeks as well as joint film production projects. 

The Iranian delegation then went to Sorbonne University to visit the cinemateque screening unconventional films including Iranian cinematic products. Mohammad Haghighat (Esfehani), who is in charge of this movie theater, is a cinema graduate and now cinema writer and instructor. He talked about the warm reception of Iranian films among the French audience, adding that the French hold Iranian cinema in very special regard.  At the end of the day, the Iranian delegation visited Gaumont cinema multiplex with 12 screening rooms to watch the science fiction film “District”.