LAUNCH OF BNP PARIBAS ‘INTERGALACTIC MISSION’ GAME: 120 WINNERS WILL ENJOY EXCLUSIVE ACCESS TO POST-PRODUCTION WORK ON THE LUC BESSON FILM ‘VALERIAN AND THE CITY OF A THOUSAND PLANETS’
BNP Paribas has teamed up with acclaimed French film screenwriter, director and producer Luc Besson to make the biggest-budget European film ever produced – Valerian and the City of a Thousand Planets, which is scheduled for release in July 2017. Now the Bank is launching an innovative game – ‘Intergalactic Mission’ – and the winners, from both France and abroad, will have the chance to enjoy exclusive access to ongoing post-production work on the movie at the Cité du Cinéma studios in Paris and to the recording of the original music for the soundtrack, featuring the Paris Philharmonic Orchestra conducted by Alexandre Desplat. The winners’ names will be drawn in January and they will then be able to obtain entry to the film post-production workstreams in February or March.
As part of the Bank’s overall partnership with Valerian and the City of a Thousand Planets, BNP Paribas has embarked on a number of initiatives to enable a wide public to take an exclusive peek behind the scenes of the movie-making process. Between January and June this year, 275 fortunate film fans from France and other European countries came to witness the shooting of the movie at the Cité du Cinéma studios. To see videos of these visits, go to www.valerian.bnpparibas
‘Intergalactic Mission’: online game giving fans a chance to witness backstage activity on the movie
The idea of the BNP Paribas ‘Intergalactic Mission’ game is to immerse the visitor in the intergalactic world of Luc Besson’s Valerian and the City of a Thousand Planets and enable him/her to enjoy a unique online experience.
Guided in their mission by either Valerian or Laureline, the two Spatio-Temporal Agents starring in the film, players take control of the ‘Intruder’ spaceship in order to travel from planet to planet. Go to the Intergalactic Mission game.
Under the ‘Valerian’ partnership, BNP Paribas will be offering the general public a number of other exciting experiences over the next few months.
First of all, why not come by and see the Valerian trailer on the giant screens at the 2 Opéra Concept Store in Paris? And if you go out to watch a movie at an MK2 cinema before 29 November you will be able to enjoy an exclusive 3D version of the trailer, courtesy of BNP Paribas.
Starting in January, BNP Paribas will be offering, in conjunction with the Angoulême International Comic Book Festival, a Valerian Exhibition featuring original artwork of this cult comic strip series and examples of their cinematographic interpretation by Luc Besson.
Exclusive digital content relating to the film will also be available regularly on the www.valerian.bnpparibas website and the social networks.
Luc Besson’s Valerian and the City of a Thousand Planets, adapted from the French science fiction comic series ‘Valérian’, written by Pierre Christin and illustrated by Jean-Claude Mézières, is a real hotbed of innovation, both in its production values and in terms of the technologies used to make the movie. This ambitious production is very much in line with the Bank’s determination to support creative people and entrepreneurs who have set themselves international goals. In order to help this French film creation become a worldwide success, BNP Paribas is investing €10 million of its own capital in the movie.
For more information: www.bnpparibas.com/valerian
BNP Paribas, working to provide you with first-rate cinema entertainment
The Group has a long history of working with the cinema – in France, Belgium and Italy – which goes back over 100 years. BNP Paribas is today the major European bank for film financing.
In recent years, the cinema has also become a major area of customer affinity for the BNP Paribas brand. The Group’s involvement in the movie world has grown considerably, based on three fields of activity:
- Financing of audio-visual works
- Partnerships
- Digital platforms and commercial offerings
BNP Paribas is involved at all stages of the film industry value chain. The basic aim is to help bring the very best cinematographic work to a wide audience, contribute to the sector’s growth, foster new talent and encourage ongoing new developments in the world of film.
The Group’s partnership policy in this field is designed to help project the BNP Paribas name and strengthen Brand recognition and affinity among customers, prospective clients and the general public.
BNP PARIBAS A MAJOR PLAYER IN AUDIOVISUAL PRODUCTION FINANCE
In Europe, the Group has more than 60 experts working on film finance. In France, BNP Paribas has set up a dedicated ‘Image & Media’ department, which handles the financing of movie or other audiovisual productions. The Group also holds a sizeable stake in French film finance institution Cofiloisirs. Currently one in two French films is financed, directly or indirectly, by BNP Paribas and we are the leading European bank for the financing of movies or audiovisual works.
Some of the high-profile films financed by BNP Paribas
The Artist – worldwide audience of 16 million; awards: Césars, Oscars, Golden Globe
Lucy – 55 million tickets sold worldwide; biggest French film box-office hit abroad
Saint Laurent – which is helping to spread French culture across the world
Le Petit Prince (The Little Prince) – one of the biggest-ever budgets for a French animated film; the film is even currently setting new box-office records in China
Les Saisons (Seasons) – the most recent film by Jacques Perrin
BNP Paribas has also financed the distribution of other well-known French language films, including Intouchables (Untouchable), La Vie d’Adele (The Life Of Adele) and Supercondriaque (Supercondriac).
PARTNERSHIPS: FESTIVALS, FILM RESTORATION AND SUPPORT FOR MOVIE THEATRES
Enabling a wide public to enjoy cinema entertainment:
Supporting national initiatives to promote movie-going
In France, we have since 2004 been supporting the activities of the National Federation of French Cinemas (FNCF). We have thus kept the Printemps du Cinéma (Spring at the Cinema) and La Fête du Cinéma (Festival of Cinema) initiatives going and we have even created our own branded action La Rentrée du Cinéma BNP Paribas (‘Back from vacation, back to the Cinema with BNP Paribas’). With these initiatives, we enable over a million people every year to take advantage of low-price cinema tickets.
Key dates
- La Rentrée du Cinéma (‘Back from vacation, back to the Cinema’) in 2004
- La Fête du Cinéma (Festival of Cinema) since 2007
- Le Printemps du Cinéma (Spring at the Cinema) since 2007
- La Rentrée Cinéma BNP Paribas (‘Back from vacation, back to the Cinema with BNP Paribas’) action begun in 2011
As part of our corporate philanthropy initiatives, we also support les Toiles Enchantées (‘The Magic Screens’), a charity organisation which enables some 21,000 children and teenagers in hospital to view films on current release (Corporate Philanthropy Convention)
Preserving film masterpieces and iconic cinemas
BNP Paribas has provided assistance for the restoration of a number of old films, to avoid these old masterpieces falling into oblivion.
In 2003, BNP Paribas provided backing for the restoration of Charlie Chaplin’s film Modern Times, which was then shown at the close of the Cannes Film Festival that same year. The Bank provided similar assistance in 2007 for Chaplin’s The Kid, The Gold Rush, and The Circus.
The Group assisted in the restoration and digitisation of two French movie masterpieces – Jacques Tati’s Parade and Jacques Demy’s Les Demoiselles de Rochefort (The Young Ladies of Rochefort) – in 2013 and Gérard Oury’s Le Corniaud (The Sucker) in 2015.
In 2010, BNP Paribas entered into a partnership with Le Trianon, a local authority-run cinema in Romainville/Noisy-le-sec in eastern Paris, to help promote France’s rich cinema heritage. This historic movie theatre played host for 14 years to a highly popular TV programme called La Dernière Séance (‘The Last Showing’) presented by Eddy Mitchell. It remains today a major meeting point for all film lovers.
BNP Paribas also supports the iconic Paris cinema Le Balzac.
Fostering new talent and encouraging ‘new cinema’
BNP Paribas partnerships in Europe: Facts & Figures
- 28 regional film festivals in France (including the Festival Lumière in Lyon, Festival du Film at Sarlat, Cinemed et al)
- 9 festivals supported by the Group in Belgium and Italy
- The Mobile Film Festival, France and the associated Mobile Film Academy sponsored by BNP Paribas
- L’Ecole de la Cité film school founded by Luc Besson
INNOVATION HELPING TO PROJECT OUR BRAND
A focal point for film fans
In 2013, BNP Paribas set up a 100% film-oriented website – welovecinema.fr – underpinned by commercial offerings.
This platform, designed to provide all film fans with rich movie world content, has also attracted strong engagement on the social networks.
New tools to match new consumer behavior
Cinema planning on your smartphone, movie world news within reach at any time
In 2012 BNP Paribas founded Séance Radio, the very first cinema-oriented web radio. Based on a website and an app, Séance Radio enables the user to keep abreast of all the latest movie world news through podcasts, original film soundtracks, interviews with film directors, actors, critics, etc.
Currently over 50,000 listeners per month. Go to: www.seanceradio.com
In 2014, BNP Paribas launched, in partnership with Cinémur, Séance Ciné – the very first app designed to enable users to organise trips to the cinema among friends. In just three clicks, you can send your friends up to three proposals for movie outings by SMS or email and then firm up the arrangement on the basis of their expressed preferences.
More than 35,000 downloads to date from the AppStore and for Android devices.
Press Contacts
Marion Saraf - marion.saraf@bnpparibas.com - +33 (0)1 57 43 88 63