Event Preview: Le Rendez-Vous Bi@rritz

Sarah Hemar, deputy managing director of UniFrance in charge of audiovisual and digital, talks to World Screen about what to expect from the 27th edition of Le Rendez-Vous Bi@rritz taking place in September.

Dedicated to French TV content, another edition of the event is taking place from September 6 to 8. The event will again be hosted online, rather than in person, a decision made after careful consultation, says Hemar. “Faced with a Covid-19 year-two configuration, we initially consulted buyers during the spring. As soon as they informed us that, unfortunately, they would not be able to travel at the beginning of September, we made the decision, in consultation with our members’ representatives, to organize Le Rendez-Vous Bi@rritz 2021 online.”

“With the constant objective of proposing the richest, most convivial and interactive experience possible, we went back to work, capitalizing on our experience of Le Rendez-Vous 2020 and Le Rendez-Vous Docs, organized using this same format for the first time in March,” she continues.

This 27th edition of Le Rendez-Vous has a new set, in the heart of the Montmartre district in Paris, to highlight discussions on French productions and projects. The digital platform lerendezvous.tv, in coordination with the Screenopsis database of French programs for export, serves as an international showcase.

“Circumstances have forced us to hold our flagship event of the year far from Biarritz, our usual home base, but everyone’s dedication is once again very encouraging,” Hemar says. More than 60 member companies have submitted nearly 550 programs to the event’s Screenopsis screening room, and nearly 300 buyers from 62 countries have registered as of mid-August.

In collaboration with French audiovisual distribution companies and their production partners, the TV division of UniFrance is offering a diversified program of video content: 13 Super Highlights (as opposed to 9 in 2020), presenting new flagship programs; 16 project pitches (compared to 15 last year) and a renewed initiative for animation in addition to documentaries. A question-and-answer session at the end of each presentation will give buyers a chance to react live and on the spot.

For the first time, there will be an exclusive presentation of a study by Glance, “What’s Hot in France?,” on the French successes of 2020-21 in France and their international potential. Other highlights include the 2021 Export Awards and discussions with commissioning editors on their expectations concerning programs. Also during Le Rendez-Vous Bi@rritz 2021, the TV division of UniFrance, with the Centre national du cinéma et de l’image animée (CNC), will reveal the export figures for 2020.

As to the greater number of Super Highlights and project pitches for this year, Hemar says: “The pitch projects were voted on by the buyers, who chose which ones they wanted to see as a priority. This enabled us to determine the list of 16 pitch sessions—12 documentary and 4 animation. As for the 13 programs presented in the Super Highlights, an in-house panel made up of our members’ representatives selected them depending on their potential to attract the largest number of buyers.” Considerations include the quality of writing and direction, their unifying character and ability to speak to and reach out to audiences wherever they live around the world.

“We are proud to be able to offer selections that reflect the quality and great diversity of French audiovisual creation,” says Hemar. As for genres, in unscripted, documentaries, history, current affairs, art, culture, science and nature are all represented, while in fiction, there are comedies, detective stories, dramas, social sagas and more.

“For the past ten years, French series have been gaining in international appeal and are being increasingly recognized in festivals,” Hemar adds. “While program sales are following an upward trend, the marketing of formats remains an opportunity we can still develop.”

This has led to the creation of the Coming Next from France special format highlight, featuring French projects from the perspective of adaptations. The five format pitches are The Bureau (Federation Entertainment), #Boomer(Balanga), Diana Boss (France tv distribution), 6.30pm (Lukarn) and The Rope(Wild Bunch TV). “It’s a real pleasure for us to accompany these French creations covering so many genres with talent, and even more so in partnership with Séries Mania, one of the most prestigious international fiction festivals,” says Hemar. The Coming Next from France special format will take place on August 30 in Lille and will be available for replay on Le Rendez-Vous’ platform.

Always a highlight, Screenopsis is a website for buyers to screen French audiovisual productions. It provides them with more than 15,000 video files to view in full along with advanced features. “For each of the events that we organize, first and foremost Le Rendez-Vous Bi@rritz, or those in which we participate with our members, we create a dedicated screening room on our database—a space that highlights new productions available in the market by curating them and that uses collaborative tools, such as sharing notes or sharing playlists, putting buyers in direct contact with French distributors,” Hemar explains.

Maintaining a strong relationship with buyers is a top-of-mind priority as well, she adds. “We are in constant contact with them. We ask for their opinions and involve them in the selection processes. We have created a monthly newsletter, French TV Stories, for them, informing them of our actions, the latest news on French creations, with interviews and so on. This closeness is reflected in the exceptional loyalty to Le Rendez-Vous Bi@rritz of our buyers, who, even in a situation such as the one imposed by the health crisis, remain very mobilized and respond really well to the event. We thank them most warmly for this. The only thing missing today is to be able to welcome them on-site in Biarritz and enjoy the warmth of ‘real’ exchanges, which remain irreplaceable.”