France: A regional national selection event to select the Eurovision 2021 hopeful

Sunday, 21 June 2020

• Alexandra Redde-Amiel, entertainment director of France Télévisions and head of the French delegation to Eurovision, has revealed at "20 Minutes" how the next tricolor Eurovision representative will be determined.

  The public will have a say in choosing the artist who will represent France at Eurovision 2021, in Rotterdam (Netherlands). Alexandra Redde-Amiel, head of the French delegation and director of entertainment for France Televisions, announces the establishment of a national selection ahead of the next edition.

  The French HoD stated : 

  “It will be a creation, produced in-house by France Télévisions Studios. We are working on the final concept. We already know that it will be an event evening, in a large concert hall, in the region."

   

  Televoting along with a Jury 

  During this program broadcast on France 2 , the competing candidates will be decided by the votes of viewers. It will also count on the contribution of a jury. "We do not yet know how we will build it, how many people it will be made up, or if it will be solely French or international," slips Alexandra Redde-Amiel, indicating that discussions are underway.

   

  Dates and conditions

  The call for candidates will be launched on June 29. The required criteria have not yet been communicated, but some of them, required by Eurovision regulations, will have to be met. For example, to be eligible, a song must not be longer than three minutes and cannot be or have been released before September 1, 2020.

  Redde-Amiel goes on saying:

  "We want everyone to feel like a potential candidate," says the head of delegation, who aims to "revive the Eurovision brand [on the air]". “It's a powerful brand. It is the symbol of gathering, union, sharing and we need it during this period. ”

   

  Eurovision 2020 cancellation and Tom Leeb's withdrawal

  Eurovision 2020, which was scheduled to take place last May in Rotterdam, has been canceled due to the Covid-19 pandemic. "It was a frustration not to live this edition," says Alexandra Redde-Amiel.

  France would have been represented in the final by Tom Leeb , with his song Mon Alliée . The singer, who had been chosen internally at France Televisions at the end of last year, revealed Friday that he would not participate in the competition next year. "The decision was taken by mutual agreement," says the head of delegation. Preparing for Eurovision 2021 would have taken up too much of his time for him, who is also a comedian and actor. "And to specify:" We are accompanying him, Tom Leeb is a France Télévisions artist. "

   

  France in Eurovision 

  
  France is  one of the seven countries that had its first participation back in 1956. Since then the country has won the contest 5 times. Last time was in 1977, with Marie Myriam and her song L’oiseau et l’enfant. The last two years, however,  seems to be an increasing interest for the contest .

  Destination Eurovision  was used for the first time as the country’s national selection format in 2018, including two recorded semi final shows and a live grand final. 2018 was the first time France held a nationa final since 2014. National final 2018 winners were the duo Madame Monsieur who represented France in Lisbon with their entry “Mercy” which finished 13th.

  In 2019 Bilal Hassani won the second edition of Destination Eurovision 2019 and defended the French colours in Tel Aviv with his entry Roi which came 16th in the Grand final.

  After that France Televisions went internal selecting Tom Leeb to represent the country in Rotterdam last May. Unfortunately his ESC 2020 journey never took place as the covid-19 pandemic caused the cancellation of this year's edition. 

  Source: 20minutes.fr