From June 19 through 23, 2002, 17 recent or not previously released feature films and 6 short films will be presented at the 10th Yokohama French Film Festival.
To see the 17 feature films and 6 shorts selected at Yokohama, click here.
Of the 17 feature films in the festival's line-up, 6 have already found buyers in Japan, and will thus be presented in preview screenings prior to their commercial release. To celebrate its 10th anniversary, the festival is featuring a tribute to Jacques Tati, with a screening of the film "Mon Oncle."
Jeanne Moreau is this year's President, heading a delegation of French artists and professionals composed of directors, actors, talent agents, producers and sales agents. Nowadays a key event for French cinema abroad, the Yokohama Festival expects to welcome 20,000 spectators once again this year, as well as over 150 Asian buyers and 200 Japanese journalists.
Held at the same time as the festival screenings, a Film Market will be organized in two theaters equipped with digital sound, with DVD and video screenings of films subtitled in English. One theater will showcase films from the festival selection. The second, programmed with the agreement of French sales agents, will present another selection of recent French films.
The event will offer an opportunity of French producers and sales agents to meet with industry professionals, including theatrical distributors and television buyers, from Japan, Korea, Australia and other countries from the Asian region (such as Taiwan, Hong Kong, Singapore, the Philippines, Vietnam, India and Burma).
The festival provides ongoing support to distributors in their efforts to present French films to the Japanese public. In the past 10 years, between 40 and 50 French productions have been released each year in theaters in Tokyo and the Japanese territory. Having built its reputation on its success in Tokyo's Arthouse theaters, French cinema retains a keen following in this traditional audience category. However recent years have seen a new audience emerging for French films, that of the multiplex cinemas.
The growth of multiplexes coupled with French productions' return to a certain style of genre films have boosted the confidence of Japanese distributors, who no longer hesitate to launch directly into more ambitious release patterns for their films. 2001 saw the launch of "The Crimson Rivers," distributed in 262 prints, "Yamakasi" in 130 prints and "Amelie," with over 50 prints distributed. Large-scale release has evidently become the norm, with "Vidocq" released in 2002 in 105 prints, "Brotherhood of the Wolf" in 89 prints and "Wasabi" in 221 prints, a trend that is continuing as the year progresses.
The situation has thus developed over the past 10 years, with the distribution of French films in Japan moving towards a two-faceted market. Far from leading to a prejudicial treatment of films, this new development allows all films the opportunity of gaining release according to their own potential and the particular audiences they attract.
This new situation is obviously profitable in terms of results, since, with 4.2 million spectators registered - including 1.9 million for French-language films - 2001 was a record year for movie attendance and box office receipts for French films in Japan. French films captured 2.5% of the theatrical market in terms of admissions, marking a triumphant performance. 2001 will go down as a year of consolidating French films' position as well as the expansion of the market. Of all non-French-speaking countries in the world, Japan remains the most receptive to French films.
The Yokohama French Film Festival is organized by Unifrance with support from the Yokohama City Hall and collaboration from the French Embassy in Japan. For the first time this year, Dior Perfumes and the Société Générale Bank are partners in the event.
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