France

===Cinema===
{{Main|Cinema of France}}
[[File:Palmed'or.jpg|thumb|alt=Palme d'Or award in presentation case|A ''[[Palme d'Or]]'' from the [[Cannes Film Festival]], one of the "[[Film festival|Big Three]]" film festivals alongside the [[Venice Film Festival]] and [[Berlin International Film Festival]]<ref>{{Cite news |last=Dargis |first=Manohla |title=Cannes International Film Festival |work=The New York Times |url=http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/subjects/c/cannes_international_film_festival/index.html}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news |last=Lim |first=Dennis |date=15 May 2012 |title=They'll Always Have Cannes |work=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2012/05/16/arts/16iht-lim16.html}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news |last=Woolsey |first=Matt |title=In Pictures: Chic Cannes Hideaways |work=Forbes |url=https://www.forbes.com/2008/05/14/cannes-properties-luxury-forbeslife-cx_mw_0514realestate_slide.html}}</ref>]]

France has historical and strong links with [[Filmmaking|cinema]], with two Frenchmen, Auguste and Louis Lumière (known as the [[Auguste and Louis Lumière|Lumière Brothers]]) credited with creating cinema in 1895.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Larousse |first=Éditions |title=Encyclopédie Larousse en ligne – les frères Lumière |url=http://www.larousse.fr/encyclopedie/personnage/les_frères_Lumière/130661 |website=larousse.fr}}</ref> The world's first female filmmaker, [[Alice Guy-Blaché]], was also from France.<ref>{{Cite web |last1=Dargis, Manohla |author-link=Manohla Dargis |last2=Scott, A.O. |author-link2=A. O. Scott |date=20 September 2018 |title=You Know These 20 Movies. Now Meet the Women Behind Them |url=https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2018/09/14/movies/women-film-history.html |access-date=4 December 2018 |website=The New York Times}}</ref> Several important cinematic movements, including the late 1950s and 1960s [[Nouvelle Vague]], began in the country. It is noted for having a strong film industry, due in part to protections afforded by the [[Government of France]]. France remains a leader in filmmaking, {{As of|2015|lc=y}} producing more films than any other European country.<ref>{{Cite web |last=UIS |title=UIS Statistics |url=http://data.uis.unesco.org/?ReportId=5538 |publisher=UNESCO}}</ref><ref name="NYT 1995-02-28">{{Cite news |first=Alan |last=Riding |date=28 February 1995 |title=The Birthplace Celebrates Film's Big 1–0–0 |work=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1995/02/28/movies/the-birthplace-celebrates-film-s-big-1-0-0.html}}</ref> The nation also hosts the [[Cannes Festival]], one of the most important and famous film festivals in the world.<ref>{{Cite web |date=15 February 2007 |title=Cannes&nbsp;– a festival virgin's guide |url=http://www.cannesguide.com/basics/ |access-date=22 July 2011 |publisher=Cannesguide.com |archive-date=12 September 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160912231419/http://www.cannesguide.com/basics/ |url-status=dead }}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=Cannes Film Festival - Palais des Festivals, Cannes, France |url=http://www.whatsonwhen.com/sisp/index.htm?fx=event&event_id=21731 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120610125315/http://www.whatsonwhen.com/sisp/index.htm?fx=event&event_id=21731 |archive-date=10 June 2012 |publisher=Whatsonwhen.com}}</ref>

Apart from its strong and innovative film tradition, France has also been a gathering spot for artists from across Europe and the world. For this reason, French cinema is sometimes intertwined with the cinema of foreign nations. Directors from nations such as Poland ([[Roman Polanski]], [[Krzysztof Kieślowski]], [[Andrzej Żuławski]]), Argentina ([[Gaspar Noé]], [[Edgardo Cozarinsky]]), Russia ([[Alexandre Alexeieff]], [[Anatole Litvak]]), Austria ([[Michael Haneke]]) and Georgia ([[Géla Babluani]], [[Otar Iosseliani]]) are prominent in the ranks of French cinema. Conversely, French directors have had prolific and influential careers in other countries, such as [[Luc Besson]], [[Jacques Tourneur]] or [[Francis Veber]] in the [[Cinema of the United States|United States]]. Although the French film market is dominated by Hollywood, France is the only nation in the world where American films make up the smallest share of total film revenues, at 50%, compared with 77% in Germany and 69% in Japan.<ref name="erudit">{{In lang|fr}} Damien Rousselière [http://www.erudit.org/revue/hphi/2005/v15/n2/801295ar.pdf Cinéma et diversité culturelle: le cinéma indépendant face à la mondialisation des industries culturelles]. ''Horizons philosophiques'' Vol. 15 No. 2 2005</ref> French films account for 35% of the total film revenues of France, which is the highest percentage of national film revenues in the developed world outside the United States, compared to 14% in Spain and 8% in the UK.<ref name = erudit/> In 2013 France was the second greatest exporter of films in the world, after the United States.<ref name="unifrance.org">{{Cite web |title=Enquête sur l'image du cinéma français dans le monde |url=http://www.unifrance.org/actualites/11596/enquete-sur-l-image-du-cinema-francais-dans-le-monde |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141213021911/http://www.unifrance.org/actualites/11596/enquete-sur-l-image-du-cinema-francais-dans-le-monde |archive-date=13 December 2014 |website=unifrance.org}}</ref>

As part of its advocacy of [[cultural exception]], a political concept of treating culture differently from other commercial products,<ref>Joëlle Farchy (1999) [http://www.scienceshumaines.com/la-fin-de-l-exception-culturelle_fr_10912.html La Fin de l'exception culturelle ?] [[CNRS]] {{ISBN|978-2-271-05633-7}}</ref> France succeeded in convincing all EU members to refuse to include culture and audiovisuals in the list of liberalised sectors of the WTO in 1993.<ref>[http://www.culture.gouv.fr/culture/actualites/politique/diversite/wto-en2.htm The cultural exception is not negotiable by Catherine Trautmann]&nbsp;– Ministry of Culture</ref> Moreover, this decision was confirmed in a vote by [[UNESCO]] in 2005: the principle of "cultural exception" won an overwhelming victory with 198 countries voting for it and only 2 countries, the United States and Israel, voting against it.<ref>{{Cite web |title=La Convention UNESCO pour la diversité culturelle : vers un droit international culturel contraignant ? |url=http://www.fnsac-cgt.com/administration/upload/ARTICLE%20UNESCO%20CONF%201602_06%20(3).pdf |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110427020210/http://www.fnsac-cgt.com/administration/upload/ARTICLE%20UNESCO%20CONF%201602_06%20%283%29.pdf |archive-date=27 April 2011 |publisher=Fédération Nationale des Syndicats du spectacle du cinéma, de l'audiovisuel et de l'action culturelle |language=fr}}</ref>