The 50th Residency of the Festival de Cannes

A Residency in the heart of Paris

The Festival de Cannes has launched several programs to support and promote young creators. Founded in 2000, headed first by Sylvie Perras, then Georges Goldenstern and now Stéphanie Lamome, the Residency welcomes every year twelve young filmmakers who are working on writing their first or second feature film. During two four-and-a-half-month sessions a year, it offers participants an environment that favors creativity, allowing them to devote themselves fully to developing their own screenplays while encouraging interaction with established professionals.

Many screen artists have come to share their experience with the residents such as recently Céline Sciamma, Alice Rohrwacher, Justine Triet, Albert Serra and director of photography Claire Mathon. These meetings nurture participants’ work and open up unprecedented prospects for their writing.

A springboard for new perspectives

The experience of the Residency has had a lasting impact on many filmmakers, who underline its rich human and artistic value. The Chilean director Diego Céspedes, winner of the Un Certain Regard Prize 2025 for The Mysterious Gaze of the Flamingo, developed during his Residency in 2019, recalls:

“Those days are among the fondest memories of my life. The friendships I made there last to this day. It is a unique, singular place where you learn, where you take your time, where you are moved, and where you can reflect on your project peacefully, without pressure. My advice to new residents: don’t expect everything to happen at once. Just live the experience, soak up the atmosphere, and write from the depths of your heart, including its strangest corners, because no one will judge you here.”

Twenty-five years of international history and successes

Since its creation in 2000, the Residency of the Festival de Cannes has welcomed more than 250 filmmakers from some 60 countries, providing a decisive springboard for many auteurs who have gone on to make their mark on international cinema.

Lucrecia Martel, Kornél Mundruczó, Sebastián Lelio, and Oliver Hermanus made their debuts there. Several former residents have seen their careers recognized at international festivals: Corneliu Porumboiu (Caméra d’Or 2006 for 12:08 East of Bucharest), Amat Escalante (Best Director Award for Heli at the 2013 Festival de Cannes), Michel Franco (Best Screenplay Award in 2015 for Chronic, in competition in Cannes, and Grand Jury Prize at the Venice Film Festival for Nuevo Orden), László Nemes (2015 Cannes Grand Prix and 2016 Academy Award for Best International Feature Film for Son of Saul) and Wang Bing (Golden Leopard at the 2017 Locarno Film Festival for Mrs. Fang).

In 2018, Lukas Dhont won the Caméra d’Or for Girl, while Nadine Labaki received the Prix du Jury for Capernaum, a film nominated for both a César and an Oscar. Nadav Lapid won the Golden Bear at the 2019 Berlinale for Synonyms and the Jury Prize at Cannes 2021 for Ahed’s Knee. That same year, Antoneta Alamat Kusijanović was awarded the Caméra d’Or prize for Murina.

More recently, Carla Simón received the 2022 Berlinale’s Golden Bear Award for Best Film with Alcarràs. Karim Aïnouz, one of the first residents, was selected two years in a row in competition with Firebrand (2023) and Motel Destino (2024). In 2024, Rungano Nyoni won the Best Director Award from Cannes’ Un Certain Regard section for On Becoming a Guinea Fowl, and Dea Kulumbegashvili won the Venice International Film Festival’s Special Jury Prize for April. That same year, two former residents distinguished themselves for their films developed in the Residency in 2019-2020: Payal Kapadia, Grand Prix for All We Imagine As Light, and Chiang Wei Liang, Caméra d’Or special mention for Mongrel.

This year’s Un Certain Regard Prize awarded to director Diego Céspedes for The Mysterious Gaze of the Flamingo, which he developed during the 38th session in 2019, confirms the central role of the Residency in the emergence of new cinematic perspectives.