The Cannes Film Festival Doesn’t Just Do The Cannes Film Festival

FilmCannes Film Festival
Written By Ally Portee

How 6 movie directors have been invited to the Festival’s Résidence program to receive support and guidance for their filmmaking


For the next 4 months, until February 15, 2024, the 46th Residence of the Festival de Cannes will host five female directors and one male director, who are all living in Paris, and who will attend the next edition of the Cannes Film Festival that will run between May 14-25, 2024. The five filmmakers- Meltse Van Coillie, Diana Cam Van Nguyen, Zhao Hao, Gessica Généus, Andréa Slaviček, and Asmae El Moudir are receiving tailored support in writing their first or second feature film screenplay.

While the Cannes Film Festival is the number one film festival in the world and it can be an exciting event to attend, it doesn’t just consist of ten days in May. In the other days of the year it explores film production around the world, and contributes to film’s renewal. We all know the magic that film can have. The power of storytelling moves us and transports us to faraway worlds, it also convicts us, and drives us to do something about the injustices that we see in the world. The initiatives that the Festival has put in place over the last years offers those in the film world opportunities they may never have received, giving us the viewer, a front row seat to stories we would otherwise not know about.

The six filmmakers: ANDREA SLAVIČEK (Croatia) © Nina Duredevic – ZHAO HAO (China) © Yeo Seung Jin - ASMAE EL MOUDIR (Morocco) © Ammar Abd Rabbo - GESSICA GÉNÉUS (Haiti) © Jean Marie Gigon - DIANA CAM VAN NGUYEN (Czech Republic / Vietnam) © David Tichacek - MELTSE VAN COILLIE (Belgium) © Harm Dens

The Résidence program that these six filmmakers are a part of provides not only housing but writing support and group meetings with industry professionals. “This year, five female directors and one male director stood out from the crowd. All of them have a desire to carry out their project at the Résidence, by taking advantage of this living space and of the prestige of an institution and of a city, Paris, that is a mythical site of creation in the history of cinema,” says Stéphanie Lamome, the program director.

There have been over 250 filmmakers from 60 countries that have taken part in the program.
Hungarian director, László Nemes won the Grand Prix at the Festival in 2015 and the Oscar and Golden Globe for best foreign language film in 2016 for Son of Saul. And Lebanese director Nadine Labaki, won the César and the Oscar for best foreign film in 2019 with her film Capernaum.

*The header image is credited to: Christophe Simon/ AFP

Ally Portee

Starting out in the world of politics, Ally interned and worked in Washington, DC, in Congress, at The White House, on on political campaigns. Today she’s in a totally different arena: fashion. Developing an eye for sartorial craftsmanship, Ally has learned how to put intricate and detailed collections into words, while developing relationships with some of the world's most leading brands and covering Paris, Milan, and Riyadh Fashion Week shows. Ally started SEELE in 2012. Seele [say-la] is the German word for Soul and its aim is to encourage people with faith-inspired and lifestyle content that stir the soul. Ally has written for Forbes, Harper’s Bazaar, The Hollywood Reporter, GQ Middle East, Vogue Arabia, Refinery29, NPR, Arabian Business, and Euronews.

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