Markets

The 32nd edition of the Unifrance Rendez-Vous officially opened today, September 8, in Le Havre, bringing together French distributors and international buyers for four days dedicated to the promotion and international circulation of French audiovisual content. Running from September 7 to 10, 2026, the Rendez-Vous is one of the key international gatherings devoted entirely to French television programmes and audiovisual production. 

The event began on Monday evening with an opening cocktail hosted at MuMa – Musée d’Art Moderne André Malraux, before the market activities officially kicked off today at Les Docks in Le Havre.

Opening the morning session, Gilles Pélisson, President of Unifrance, highlighted the importance of better understanding the international performance of French audiovisual works and introduced a new Unifrance report analysing their presence on screens worldwide. The study complements the CNC's annual analysis of international programme sales revenues.

“This year, here in Le Havre, we are introducing something new: we will present our audiovisual report analysing the international presence of French works, complementing the CNC’s analysis of programme sales revenues,” Pélisson said.
The CNC and Unifrance are presenting two studies during the Rendez-Vous focusing respectively on the export revenues and international distribution of French audiovisual programmes in 2025. 

Pélisson also referred to his participation the previous day in the Lumière Summit, bringing together around 250 representatives from the creative industries, cinema, television and video games. Discussions addressed issues ranging from freedom of creation and artificial intelligence to piracy, media literacy, financing models and the international value of creative works.

One of the central issues raised in his speech was the availability of data, particularly from global streaming platforms.
“In 2025, as you will hear in a few moments, audiovisual sales are down. But we should not forget that we do not have access to all the data, particularly data from platforms,” he stressed, noting that streamers now play a major role in both financing and circulating French productions.
According to Pélisson, greater transparency is increasingly necessary in order to provide producers and rights holders with a comprehensive picture of the economic value generated by their content internationally.

“Without greater transparency, allowing us to gain a full and comprehensive understanding of the value of our works, producers will not be able to finance the inventive, independent and high-quality creation that matters so much to all of us,” he said.

He also called for greater international cooperation and data sharing, referring to the concept of “multilateralism in production” promoted by French President Emmanuel Macron.
“In France, we know how to create and produce across every genre and every format,” Pélisson concluded. “Let us make sure that this great creative freedom continues into the future.”

The opening session continued with Cécile Lacoue, Director of Research and Forecasting at the CNC, presenting the latest figures on the international performance of French audiovisual programmes. Across the four-day event, Le Havre is once again becoming a major meeting point for the French audiovisual export industry, with screenings, presentations and business meetings designed to connect French producers and distributors with buyers from around the world.