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2011 saw France break all records (Admissions level topped 215 M, record percentage of cinema attendance 65.6% of French population saw a film: crisis what crisis?.  Record 41% of Box Office take from local films, "cocorico",  Intouchables hitting 19 million admissions...
The Artist seemed to us the highlight and symbol for the amazing year for French Cinema, tribute to daring creativity.

Bruno Chatelin, filmfestivals.com and fest21.com co founder, stated:  “Identifying the most wanted film on the festival scene is our daily mission, awarding them is a tradition for our company, and we wanted to take the opportunity of the Festival Summit to jointly honor Michel Hazanavicius and his producers.
Previous years we had asked our audience to designate the best festival film in the circuit. This year we thought a poll was not necessary. 
The Artist gathered over 100 prizes, our prizes honors them all.”  Laurie Kirby, Executive Director of the IFFS commented : “We are so honored that director Michel Hazanavicius and his team will accept the award from IFFS-Filmfestivals.com as The Artist truly embodies the power and importance of independent film and the role of the film festival in conveying that message. “ 

The Prize was given to Michel Hazanavicius in presence of his producer Emmanuel Montamat (La Petite reine) on April 3rd during the IFFS summit (which ran April 3-4, 2012 at Hotel du Louvre in central Paris.)