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Greece has taste for French films

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On the occasion of the 10th Greek Francophone Film Festival – to be held from April 1-12 in Athens and April 9-15 in Thessaloniki – Unifrance has published a study on French films in Greece from 2002 to 2008.

This reveals that French films have been on an upward trajectory since 2006. With 778,831 admissions in 2008 (i.e. €5.92m in box office takings) – representing a 13% increase compared to 2007 on a Greek market that has declined by 19% – French film achieved its second highest score of the past decade on Greek territory.

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Moreover, French cinema’s 8% market share (compared to 19.6% for domestic films) represents one of its most outstanding results worldwide and the best score in Europe outside French-speaking countries.

A total of 41 French films were released last year in Greece. Launched on 73 screens by Rosebud, Asterix at the Olympic Games [+see also:
trailer
film profile
]
claimed second place in the annual box office rankings with 466,000 admissions, which is the best performance by a French film in Greece since 1999.

Meanwhile, Palme d’Or-winner The Class [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Carole Scotta
interview: Laurent Cantet
film profile
]
– released at the end of October 2008 by Ama Films – attracted 58,000 viewers, the second highest score for a French film in Greece in 2008.

Other local distributors of French films include Audiovisual, Odeon, Seven Films, Spentzos and Hollywood Entertainment.

The 2009 edition of the Greek Francophone Film Festival – which will pay homage to Costa Gavras (to commemorate the 40th anniversary of Z) – offers a rich line-up of 60 films and will be attended by numerous directors and actors.

Avant-premières include the Mesrine diptych (Public Enemy Number One (Part 1) [+see also:
trailer
film profile
]
and Public Enemy Number One (Part 2) [+see also:
trailer
film profile
]
), The First Day of the Rest of Your Life [+see also:
trailer
film profile
]
, Spy(ies) [+see also:
trailer
film profile
]
, The Girl from Monaco [+see also:
trailer
film profile
]
, Home [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Kacey Mottet Klein
interview: Thierry Spicher
interview: Ursula Meier
film profile
]
, The Actress’ Ball [+see also:
trailer
film profile
]
, Client [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile
]
, Coluche, L'histoire d'un Mec [+see also:
trailer
film profile
]
, Female Agents [+see also:
trailer
film profile
]
, I Always Wanted to be a Gangster [+see also:
trailer
film profile
]
, Lady Jane [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile
]
, Ugly Melanie [+see also:
trailer
film profile
]
, Le Voyage aux Pyrénées [+see also:
trailer
film profile
]
and Rivals [+see also:
trailer
film profile
]
.

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(Translated from French)

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