19/01/2009

Last year was a record one for French film abroad, as Gallic productions attracted 77.6m viewers according to estimates by Unifrance. This is the best score since data collection began 15 years ago. The 2008 results surpass the 75.9m admissions garnered in 2005 and show an increase of 16% compared to 2007.

Another record was also achieved: in 2008, majority French productions represented 86.2% of admissions abroad (62% in 2007 and 48.9% in 2006).

With 17.8m admissions (+59% compared to 2007), the US was the number one foreign market for French film in 2008, followed by Russia (8.1m). But Europe still dominates with 51% of foreign viewers of French film in countries such as Germany (5.6m, down by 7%), Spain (5.3m, +32%), Italy (4.9m, up by 53%), the UK (4.3m, +43 %) and Belgium (3.6m, +50%).

The list of best-performing films is headed by Babylon A.D [+lee también:
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ficha de la película] (10.1m admissions), Asterix at the Olympic Games [+lee también:
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ficha de la película] (9.1m), Taken [+lee también:
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ficha de la película] (8.8m), Transporter 3 [+lee también:
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ficha de la película] (7.3m) and Welcome to the Sticks [+lee también:
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ficha de la película] (4.1m).

Diversity shines through in the top 20 with The Diving Bell and the Butterfly [+lee también:
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ficha de la película] (2.2m admissions), Persepolis [+lee también:
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entrevista: Marc-Antoine Robert
entrevista: Marjane Satrapi, Vincent P…
ficha de la película] (1.3m), Caramel [+lee también:
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ficha de la película] (1.1m), I’ve Loved You So Long [+lee también:
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ficha de la película] (1m), Tell No One [+lee también:
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ficha de la película] (945,000 after 515,000 in 2007), Couscous [+lee también:
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entrevista: Hafsia Herzi
ficha de la película] (715,000), Julie Delpy’s Two Days in Paris [+lee también:
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entrevista: Christophe Mazodier
entrevista: Julie Delpy
ficha de la película] (660,000 after the previous year’s 1.6m) and The Class [+lee también:
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entrevista: Carole Scotta
entrevista: Laurent Cantet
ficha de la película] (625,000).

On the institutional side, Unifrance’s annual budget will decrease from €10m to just over €8m, following cuts to funding from the Foreign Affairs Ministry. Unifrance will nonetheless benefit from a partnership agreement signed last Friday by the National Film Centre (CNC) and Ubifrance (the arm of the Ministry of the Economy for the international development of companies) in order to increase the promotion of French film and audiovisual production on foreign markets.