Exporting the French Co-production Model: Aide aux cinémas du monde and Produire au Sud

Abstract

This chapter examines how the Aide aux cinemas du monde fund and the Produire au Sud workshop aim at strengthening France’s central position in the co-production of world cinemas. The Aide aux cinemas du monde provides funding to French co-producers of films from all over the world, while the Produire au Sud workshop, linked to the Festival des 3 Continents in Nantes, works towards developing cooperation between European film professionals and emerging filmmakers from the South. Drawing on an analysis of film policy documents and data, field observation and recent film festival studies, this chapter investigates how both initiatives support co-production, in parallel to developing and exporting professional practices and discourses that shape the co-production culture developed in France since the 1980s.