Sarah Hemar: Last News

Ed Meza @edmezavar Worldwide sales of French TV content set an all-time record last year despite severe challenges caused by the continued pandemic, according to the annual report on domestic programming exports by the National Center for Cinema and the Moving Image (CNC) and film and TV promotional org Unifrance. The COVID-19 crisis, the report notes, had many ramifications on international distribution of TV content that continued to be felt in 2021, including the absence and then gradual recovery of physical markets; an influx of projects in post-production; delays in the delivery of programs and difficulties in supplying new shows; and economic uncertainties among broadcasters.

Ben Croll Accounting for 40% of all selected projects, French productions will dominate this year’s Toulouse-set Cartoon Forum for reasons that far exceed home field advantage. Underpinning the 33 projects presented at this year’s pitch sessions as well as the relatively robust state of the Gallic animation ecosystem – which produced 295 hours of content in 2020 while increasing foreign investment by nearly 10% since 2018 – are a number of structural benefits and policy reforms meant to directly spur such outcomes.“We’ve seen the conjunction of several factors,” says Sarah Hemar, executive director of TV France International, which recently merged with film promotional body UniFrance.