From Hollywood classics to French Nouvelle Vague to James Bond, France has provided a backdrop to an extraordinary number of iconic films over the years.

According to Film France, the national film commission, over 250 feature films are produced in France every year. The variety of locations and highly-trained crews contribute to its continuing appeal to filmmakers, which over the years have included the likes of Steven Soderberg, Woody Allen, Lasse Hallstrom, Alfred Hitchcock – and that is not counting the French film directors. Cannes Film Festival attracts the crème de la crème of the film industry from around the world every year, cementing France’s position as a place where glamour and creativity thrive.

The first public film screenings where admission was charged, took place at the Salon Indien du Grand Café in Paris in 1895, when the Lumière brothers made history and showed 10 short films. Paris has since been the backdrop to innumerable films – and one of the most recent ones, Midnight in Paris, is packed with Parisian landmarks. One of these locations is Hotel Le Bristol, which used to be the Parisian base of Hollywood grandees such as Rita Hayworth and Charlie Chaplin. This property nearby, in the Triangle d’Or, could provide a more permanent base in the capital.