Yesterday evening, the 11th German-French Film Rendez-vous came to a close in Nancy. Around 220 participants from the German and French film industries used the opportunity to gather information and have an intercultural exchange in the various panels. 15 producers introduced their projects in a co-production market. An innovation this year was the mentoring programme where experienced producers came together with new entrants to the industry to exchange ideas and to provide them with advice. The German-French Film Rendez-vous is organised as a cooperative initiative by Unifrance and German Films in close liaison with the German-French Film Rendez-vous association.
Panels on such issues as the European Cinema Communication, the role of television in feature films, European collaboration in the Euro-regions of Saar-Lor-Lux and Belgium, new forms of film exploitation and changes to release windows were discussed by such top-class speakers as the FFA board member Peter Dinges, the director-general of France 3 Cinéma Daniel Goudineau, the managing director of Wild Bunch Germany Marc Gabizon, the president of the CNC Frédérique Bredin, the board member of the AG Kino-Gilde Christian Bräuer, and Jean-Paul Salomé president of Unifrance Films.
The president of the German-French Film Rendezvous association Alfred Hürmer stressed the role of the meeting in his closing speech, which he sees as initiating the debate on topical issues and getting to know new perspectives: "The discussions about the future of the association and the whole industry was begun in the panels with Pierre Lescure about the Lescure Report and with Jean-Paul Salomé about the changes to release windows and will also occupy us in the near future."
The co-production market not only offered German and French producers the opportunity to have individual meetings but also allowed them to look for co-production partners, financing or distribution.
More information on the German-French Film Rendez-vous can be found here: www.das-rendez-vous.org