By Liza Foreman
PARIS – The Hôtel du Collectionneur is awash with French cinema talent and journalists buzzing between interview rooms at the tail end of the annual UniFrance Meetings in Paris a few weeks ago. But Daniela Elstner, the Executive Director of the French film and television promotion body, is a paragon of calm, although there is plenty to keep her awake at night.
Elstner has some 55 staffers on the payroll as well as the non-profit’s 1,000-plus film and TV members to work with. This, on top of a merger three years ago, which saw promotion of the international TV business become part of the UniFrance set up. The organization was previously dedicated solely to film.
“The merger had been in the air at UniFrance for many years,” Elstner said, “but it was complicated because financing to produce a film or TV is very different, especially in France.” Elstner said that bringing the two worlds together was a challenge, but with unanticipated thanks to Covid, all parties involved had a lot of time to think and arrive at answers to a lot of questions.
“I sensed very quickly that if we wanted to merge, we needed to maintain film and TV separately, but put together something that would come out on top while not trying to merge just to spend less money.” Elstner said she engaged the CNC and told that body: “It’s not going to work with less money, it’s only going to work with more money. That’s how we got more money.” Elstner added that six weeks ago the CNC confirmed assistance for next year, “So we have good news for our global financing.”
Beginning her career as an intern at UniFrance, German-born Elstner has held the Executive Director position since 2019. She felt she knew the business, and the organization, well enough to take on the lead role. She’s the first sales executive to hold the position.
“I thought after twenty years in sales it’s time for a change. It’s a huge responsibility to do sales, too. The directors push on you a lot,” she said.
Prior to joining UniFrance, she ran the French sales company Doc & Film International.
Serving as managing director from 2008 at Doc & Film, she represented international films by big name directors like Chantal Akerman, Jacques Doillon, Nicolas Philibert and Bruno Dumont, among others.
Elstner also worked for a decade alongside veteran producer Margaret Menegoz, whom she says taught her everything she knows, at Les Films du Losange. Their directors included Michael Haneke, Éric Rohmer, Barbet Schroeder, and Jacques Rivette.
She’s not new to negotiating for her colleagues, and previously spearheaded lobbying as president of ADEF (the guild for sales agents) where the outspoken exec played a leading role in securing subsidy and loan schemes for companies exporting films.
She’s now using that know-how at UniFrance.
“Since I arrived four years ago, there have been a lot of changes,” she said. “I arrived and Covid stopped it all. During Covid we did the merger between film and TV. It seems like nothing and yet it’s huge. My former president said it’s such a small company. I said I know, but it’s two such different worlds that come together. We were 30-something at UniFrance. Now we count more than 55 people. On the TV side, promotion was not at all on their radar. So, we had to change things around. They were very market and business oriented, helping companies to travel and producers to connect. And the promotion side, ten years ago for a documentary, was also not in the heads of anyone because it was also less needed. But when the big platforms came in, and promoted the series like any other film, suddenly the game changed.”
Those changes have paid off.
UniFrance has got plenty to celebrate in Berlin with a record six French feature films in competition, by some of the country’s leading directors.
There are also a record 11 French documentaries playing across the festival.
Filmmakers expected to attend the festival, include Christine Angot, André Téchiné, Isabelle Huppert, Hafsia Herzi, Nahuel Pérez Biscayart, Bruno Dumont, Lyna Khoudri, Anamaria Vartolomei, Jérémy Clapin, Megan Northam, Abderrahmane Sissako, Nina Mélo, Mati Diop, Nicolas Philibert, Claire Burger, Nina Hoss, Vincent Macaigne, Micha Lescot, Nora Hamzawi and Olivier Assayas.
16 French international sales companies will be hosted at the Unifrance stand, including The Bureau Sales, Le Pacte, Les Films du Losange, Luxbox, Pyramide International and Other Angle Pictures.
It will be a busy Berlinale for Elstner, but back home, there is still plenty to do despite a 19% year-on-year increase in the box office for 2023.
“In France you always fight for more because you never stop,” she said. “We need to adapt not to lose out on the films that need our help the most. Some films just need us to help with the publicity, but we need to develop better strategies that help all these films. For exhibitors, and distributors, you need a lot of work now which wasn’t needed before. We also need new ideas. Sometimes, if it’s not a good idea, it’s a failure.”
Recent initiatives include a film festival in the MetaVerse.
“We created My Meta Stories. Some of our members say ‘what’s that? Why put the energy there?’ One of the producers asked me: ‘How many more admissions does that bring to my film?’ But it’s not about that. It’s about how to connect to younger audiences,” she said.
Elstner has plenty other ideas.
“I would love to have specific spaces at Cannes and Venice to introduce French films to the press. I would like one day more in Berlin for press at the Meetings. It’s a lack of money. Our new president is looking to get more private money. I would like to help our Ten To Watch with promo reels, language coaching and hire more staff.”
As for Berlin, she said: “We really do work hard with all the production companies coming. We bring talent. We must be very careful to be fair to everyone. We would love to do more but we do have a booth at the market, and we try to keep up communication by schedulig interviews with directors and putting the spotlight on French films.”