French Export Award Winners Revealed

The 2019 Export Awards were presented yesterday in Paris, recognizing the distributors whose French programs have sold best in the categories of animation, documentary and fiction.

Hari International won in the animation category for Grizzy & the Lemmings season one. Josselin Charier, producer at Hari International, said: “It’s a privilege to represent internationally an IP such as Grizzy & the Lemmings: the humor of this non-verbal series is really universal. Grizzy & the Lemmings is successful absolutely everywhere. The series is a new classic reinventing the ‘golden age’ slapstick genre: our sales track record proves the market shares this view!”

In the documentary category, Lucky You was recognized for The Origami Code. Robert Salvestrin, sales director at Lucky You, commented: “Selling Applied Maths was thought to be a tough task. Beyond the fascinating topic, the sales success of The Origami Code is also the result of a very close collaboration between the sales team and the producers of the program. This led to the editing of different versions for the French, German and international market.”

In the fiction arena, France TV Distribution won for Call My Agent season two. Julia Schulte, senior VP of international sales for France TV Distribution, said: “France TV Distribution has been very enthusiastic to distribute such an original and creative production. Call My Agent represents one of the best series showing the power of the French touch in the TV market. The success shows that even with a global release on an SVOD platform you can distribute programs in a smart way, maximizing the potential, limiting the worldwide release to a certain period and by taking out certain key territories. We hope to continue this very positive experience with upcoming seasons.”

Sarah Hemar, executive director of TV France International, said: “Well done to the winners and long live the Export Awards, which provide the opportunity to put the spotlight on the remarkable achievements of the sales companies which TV France International works alongside on a daily basis. It is also a moment to underline the growing appeal of French audiovisual output, for which international sales have more than doubled in ten years, reaching an all-time record of €205 million (up 8.5 percent on 2016).”