International film biz pros may be gearing up for the Berlinale and its European Film Market in February, but most of Europe’s top buyers were already back on the circuit last week for the Unifrance Rendez-Vous in Paris showcasing French movies, series and talent.

The market component of the 27th edition, running January 14 to 17, swapped its recent location of the swanky Champs-Elysées Avenue eighth arrondissement for the grittier but storied Left Bank neighborhood of Montparnasse.

More than 80 French film and TV sales companies set up residence in the hangar-like Espace Pullman in the shadow of the Montparnasse Tower, to showcase their new French-language wares to 500 buyers from roughly 40 mainly European territories.

After years of being crammed into separate rooms, it was the first time France’s film and TV sales sectors were together in the same space and there was a different kind of energy.

“There’s a real market feel this year,...