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The French audiovisual industry has shown remarkable resilience despite the turbulence of recent years. How do you see Unifrance’s presence evolving in the coming months, particularly across upcoming festivals?
We will follow our films and our TV programs, so as you said we had a quite strong year last year in terms of box office for our cinema films and we hope that it continue. There are a lot of films upcoming and to be released all over the world, so of couse we will follow, but we also have our own festivals: in March we have two festivals, one in New York and one in Tokyo.
Then in April, we will be coming to Rome with a selection of 15 French films, accompanied by artists. This is something that we really cherish, that we take care of our artists to different countries, organizing press interviews, speaking to the public. For us, that's very important and we do hope that we will have this year as many strong films as we had in the last year.
Turning to television, do you believe that animation, comedy, and drama will continue to drive international trends this year?
In television, we have clearly observed over the past few years a growing international interest in French TV series. In particular, lighter crime series—those positioned somewhere between comedy and crime—have achieved significant success. These hybrid formats resonate strongly with international audiences.
We have seen this success in various territories, including Australia and Italy, where certain French series have performed particularly well. This confirms that French television content is reaching an increasingly broad audience worldwide.
When it comes to animation, the situation is more complex. Cinema animation performed exceptionally well last year, with major box office successes and international awards. However, in the TV animation sector, we are facing some turbulence. While animated series have traditionally sold very well internationally, the market is becoming more challenging. Some platforms are commissioning fewer animated series, as they already have extensive catalogs or prefer to produce content internally. This represents a noticeable shift.
As for documentaries, France remains a very strong production country. We produce documentaries across all genres—wildlife, nature, political, cultural—and there is a high level of expertise in both production and international sales. That said, the market is currently under pressure. Public broadcasters, in particular, are facing budget cuts and are purchasing less content than before.
In response, we work closely with producers and broadcasters to support international circulation, helping projects travel and find new opportunities abroad. France also benefits from strong synergies between series, documentaries, and territory promotion.
From a production standpoint, France offers extraordinary diversity in shooting locations. Each region has its own identity and cinematic value. The northern coastal areas, for example, provide a very strong harbor atmosphere, while the South of France offers light, brightness, and Mediterranean landscapes. Paris remains iconic, but cities like Marseille are increasingly attractive for series production as well.
We are a very rich country in terms of locations, and regional film commissions play a crucial role by offering financial incentives and strong logistical support. In some cases, regions are so actively involved that their input can even influence the creative development of a series. This level of collaboration is a real asset for French audiovisual production.
France has a fairly unique model to assist and encourage the development of new projects. Do you think France has values strong enough to be a leader in Europe—not only politically, but also industrially? Do you think these values can be adopted by other countries, not only in Europe but also in the United States?
Gilles Pélisson:We do not want to impose anything on anyone, but the French system is based on a balance between the interests of all stakeholders. In the film industry, for example, you have movie theaters, free-to-air television—which is currently under pressure, particularly due to declining advertising revenues and therefore has less capacity to invest in films—and, of course, streamers and platforms, which are the newcomers. The challenge is how to balance all these interests so that the value chain is protected and does not end up being captured entirely by the wealthiest players, namely the global platforms. France has been very effective in protecting its system, particularly through what we call the release windows. Movie theaters are protected by ensuring that films remain exclusively in cinemas for a certain period—three or six months—before moving to pay TV or free-to-air television, such as Canal+ when it co-produces a film.
This system allows France to produce around 300 films a year. Through Unifrance, we promote approximately 100 works internationally every year. It is a balanced system that we want to preserve, because cinema represents cultural heritage, talent, storytelling, and identity for European citizens. So far, the French system has functioned in a very balanced and sustainable way.
Latin America has now emerged as the second-largest region for French cinema. Is it a new and promising market for you?
Gilles Pélisson: As Daniela often says, we have been investing in Latin America for many years, and the good news is that this long-term commitment is paying off. In 2025, for example, Mexico returned very strongly as our top market, largely thanks to the exceptional performance of Flow, the animated film. But we are also seeing strong results in Chile, Colombia, Peru, Brazil, and Argentina.
For us, it is really about being present in these markets, participating in local festivals, working with the best distributors, and ensuring that exporters collaborate closely with the French embassies and Unifrance, so that promotion is carried out effectively.
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