UniFrance, TVFI Merge Activities; Serge Toubiana, Hervé Michel to Lead New Org (EXCLUSIVE)

Elsa Keslassy
·2 min read

Reflecting 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.

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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. Michel, who is an TV industry veteran, started presiding over TVFI in 2016.

“We would like to thank the members of the committee for this vote of confidence. After having accomplished this new reform that took several months, a new chapter is opening us to garner the benefits of this union,” said Toubiana.

Michel said the new association’s priority will be to spearhead the “international relaunch of film and TV activities.” “It’s crucial after the period we’ve gone through. And we will launch common projects in the digital field and cross-media operations that will bring full results in 2022,” said Michel.

The merger of UniFrance and TVFI took a long time to materialize because the wall between film and TV communities was difficult to break, even if there have been more and more filmmakers and producers diving into TV drama in recent years. Ultimately the new association will allow both orgs to combine resources to promote artists, producers, exporters and talent agents in a highly competitive post-COVID world.

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