Daniela Elstner: Last News

Naman Ramachandran The Unifrance cocktail event at the Venice Film Festival on Saturday, held in partnership with Variety, saw a heady mix of film executives and artists mingle at the sea terrace of the plush Excelsior hotel. Presiding over proceedings was Unifrance executive director Daniela Elstner and artists present included director Romain Gavras and actor Ouassini Embarek, whose film “Athena” is in the main competition at the festival. Also attending were actor Swann Arlaud, César winner for “Bloody Milk” and “By the Grace of God,” who is at Venice with his new film “Beating Sun,” by Philippe Petit, who was also present; and filmmaker Audrey Diwan, who won the Venice Golden Lion last year for “Happening” and is serving on the jury this year.

Former TF1 Group CEO and chairman Gilles Pélisson has gone through a baptism of fire this week in his new role of president at French film and TV promotional body Unifrance as he attends his first edition of its annual Paris Rendez-vous.

Ed Meza @edmezavar The German film industry is eagerly awaiting the appointment of the Berlin Film Festival’s new director, expected to be announced tomorrow, and as the guessing game surrounding the choice shifts into high gear, one thing looks increasingly clear: the new head will face considerable financial and political challenges at the Berlinale. Speculation in the local industry has been rife with likely candidates to succeed Carlo Chatrian and Mariëtte Rissenbeek, who have co-led the Berlinale as artistic and executive directors since 2020 and will step down after this year’s edition when their respective mandates end.

International execs from Unifrance, MK2 and TrustNordisk kicked off the annual Zurich Summit on Saturday to discuss the importance of film festivals when promoting a title and if fests are drifting away from what works in cinemas. 

Gilles Pélisson has been named as the new president of French film and TV promotional body Unifrance.

Leo Barraclough International Features Editor The 37 national film institutes that are members of European Film Promotion have elected a new EFP board of directors at the general assembly on May 23 during the Cannes Film Festival. The board consists of seven members, with their term of office lasting for two years. Five of the current members remain on the board, including Simone Baumann, managing director of German Films, as new vice president, Daniela Elstner, executive director UniFrance, Eda Koppel, head of marketing at Estonian Film Institute, Stine Oppegaard, manager, international relations, feature films, Norwegian Film Institute, and Markéta Santrochová, head of Czech Film Center, who has been re-elected as EFP president.

Elsa Keslassy International Correspondent Girls Supports Girls, the French film sorority launched by producer Vanessa Djian and publicist Karolyne Leibovici, made its debut at this year’s Cannes Film Festival with the backing of Orange, in association with Kering. A flurry of French female talent, notably “Simone” actress Elsa Zylberstein and “Houria” director Mounia Meddour, took part in the networking luncheon which was hosted on the rooftop terrasse of Kering’s Women in Motion event at the Majestic hotel. Djian, whose production banner Daïdaï Films recently became part of Newen Group, and Leibovici, the founder of A&K communication, launched Girls Supports Girls four years ago to connect and create opportunities for female producers, actresses, executives and diverse talent coming from the film, TV and media industries.

France’s television sector is enjoying a renaissance, and this week’s French TV Screenings is another indicator of a bullish market.

Ben Croll As Unifrance’s Daniela Elstner sees it, the wealth of talent in this year’s Venice slate imparts a good bill of health for the French industry writ large. “Today, festival directors look to France in a slightly different way,” Elstner says. “We can find eminences like Frederick Wiseman alongside [emerging talents] like Alice Diop. That’s the strength of a good selection: You need names, you need surprises, you need to mix it up.” Alongside Diop and Wiseman (whose “A Couple” is in French, if not a majority French production), this year’s Venice roster also includes “Other People’s Children” from Rebecca Zlotowski and “Our Ties” from Roschdy Zem — together forming a delegation perhaps more notable for the fact that none had competed in Venice before than for the almost incidental gender parity of the mix.

Ben Croll Exploring Paris’ working-class suburbs with a fresh set of eyes while reframing the immigrant experience under a more incisive lens, a dynamic generation is blazing new trails in French cinema. And if artists like “Saint Omer” filmmaker Alice Diop, “Athena” co-writer Ladj Ly, and “The Gravity” writer/director Cedric Ido share little in common but age – interestingly enough, all were born within one or two years of one another – the group’s shared spotlight in Venice and Toronto certainly reflects a rise in opportunity for diverse perspectives. “Today, we do see renewal,” says Unifrance managing director Daniela Elstner. “There’s an altogether new breath, a young generation looking to change, to dare, and to propose new kinds of films, [and with that] a willingness on the part of festival programmers to welcome these filmmakers into main competitions a little bit faster than before.”

Elsa Keslassy International CorrespondentUniFrance, the French film promotion org headed by Serge Toubiana and Daniela Elstner, is launching the International French Cinema Fest on Bastille Day at the Cannes Film Festival. The event aims at shining a light on some of France’s latest productions whose release plans were disrupted due to the pandemic.Spanning over 30 countries, the International French Cinema Fest is being organized in partnership with distributors and exhibitors around the world who will host 50 premiere screenings of select French movies ahead of their theatrical release in key territories, including the U.S.

Elsa Keslassy International CorrespondentReflecting the blurring of boundaries between movies and TV, UniFrance and TV France International have merged their promotion organizations to form a new streamlined association. The orgs’ respective presidents, Serge Toubiana from UniFrance, and Hervé Michel from TVFI, were elected presidents of this new org, known just as UniFrance, on July 2 for a two-year term following a vote from the association’s 58 members.Toubiana, the former editor in chief of Les Cahiers du Cinema and head of the French cinematheque, took the helm of UniFrance in 2017 and forms a duo with the org’s managing director Daniela Elstner.

Ben Croll As local sales agents retool their festival strategies to better fit the moment, UniFrance has launched a parallel-track plan, rethinking its own initiatives throughout the year.“I think everyone hoped for a return to normalcy a little bit sooner than where we are now,” says UniFrance executive director Daniela Elstner.

The delegation of French stars and filmmaking talent set to attend this week's Rendez-Vous With French Cinema festival in New York have canceled their trip, citing concerns over the coronavirus. French film promotion body UniFrance announced Wednesday that the French delegation, which would have included such talents as Oscar-winner Juliette Binoche, Persepolis actress Chiara Mastroianni and director Bruno Dumont (Slack Bay), will not be coming.

By Tom Grater