20/02/2014 - The online festival organised by Unifrance smashes its own record, with filmmakers praising Welcome to Argentina, while the public opts for Comme un lion

The 4th edition of the My French Film Festival (read the news), the online event organised from 17 January to 17 February by Unifrance on the website myFrenchFilmFestival.com and across 20 partner platforms, has been extremely successful. With four million viewings (originating from a total of 205 countries) of the French features and short films on the programme, the 2012 record (1.3 million viewings) was shattered.

This success owes a lot to China, which contributed 3.5 million viewings via the Youku and Tudou platforms (where the most-watched feature film was Augustine [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile]). China was followed in the country rankings by Poland, Russia, Mexico and Brazil. Interestingly, for the first time, 550 commercial screenings in cinemas were organised in the United States and Russia alongside the online event.

The Foreign Filmmakers Jury Prize (presided by Jean-Pierre Jeunet, with Marco Bellocchio, Anurag Kashyap and Frédéric Fonteyne) was awarded to Welcome to Argentina [+see also:
trailer
interview: Edouard Deluc
film profile] by Edouard Deluc. Meanwhile, the Audience Award (with more than 30,000 votes counted) for a feature film went to Comme un lion [+see also:
trailer
film profile] by Samuel Collardey.

Complete list of winners:

Foreign Filmmakers Jury Prize
Welcome to Argentina by Edouard Deluc

Audience Award
Feature: Comme un lion by Samuel Collardey
Short: Mademoiselle Kiki et les Montparnos by Amélie Harrault 

International Press Jury Prize
Feature: The Virgin, the Copts and Me [+see also:
trailer
film profile] by Namir Abdel Messeeh 
Short: Avant que de tout perdre by Xavier Legrand

Social Networks Prize
Feature: In a Rush [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile] by Louis-Do de Lencquesaing
Short: Argile by Michaël Guerraz

(Translated from French)