New Voices in Cinema: Six Directors Join the 48th Cannes Residency Program
The 48th session of the Résidence of the Festival de Cannes commenced in Paris on October 1, 2024, bringing together six promising filmmakers from around the globe. The program will run until February 15, 2025, and includes four women and two men: Sofia Alaoui, Rudolf Fitzgerald-Leonard, Theo Montoya, Eglé Razumaite, Diwa Shah, and Anastasia Veber. These emerging talents will receive professional support to develop their first or second feature-length fiction films. Additionally, they will participate in the Festival de Cannes itself from May 13 to 24, 2025.
Founded in 2000, the Résidence has become a prestigious initiative, offering two four-and-a-half-month sessions annually to twelve directors in total. It provides a unique environment where filmmakers receive guidance on writing their screenplays and advancing their projects toward production. This initiative is part of the Festival de Cannes' broader commitment to fostering new cinematic talent.
Payal Kapadia, an alumna of the 2019 residency, recently won the Grand Prix at Cannes for her film All We Imagine as Light. She reflected on her experience at the Résidence, sharing, "The script for All We Imagine as Light was still very fragile when I applied to La Résidence. Having the time and resources to write it in the company of other wonderful screenwriters and directors offered me the ideal work environment." Kapadia's film, praised by critics, was released in France on October 2, 2024.
Since its creation, the Résidence has hosted over 250 filmmakers from 60 countries. Many have gone on to achieve international success, including Argentina’s Lucrecia Martel, Hungary’s Kornél Mundruczó, and Chile’s Sebastián Lelio, who have all won awards at major festivals. Notable former residents include Romania’s Corneliu Porumboiu, who won the Caméra d’Or in 2006 for 12:08 East of Bucharest, and Mexico’s Amat Escalante, who won Best Director at Cannes in 2013 for Heli and was in the 2023 Official Selection with Lost in the Night.
The Résidence’s alumni roster includes directors who have earned numerous prestigious awards. Among them, Mexico’s Michel Franco, who won the Un Certain Regard award in 2012 for After Lucia, and László Nemes of Hungary, who took home both the Cannes Grand Prix and the Academy Award for Son of Saul. The program's global reach is further demonstrated by successes such as Belgium’s Lukas Dhont, Lebanon’s Nadine Labaki, and Israel’s Nadav Lapid.
More recently, the 2022 Golden Bear at the Berlinale was awarded to Spain’s Carla Simón, another former resident, for Alcarràs. The 2024 Festival de Cannes also saw notable achievements by past participants, including Zambia-born Rungano Nyoni, who won Best Director in Un Certain Regard for On Becoming a Guinea Fowl, and Singapore’s Chiang Wei Liang, who received a Caméra d’Or mention spéciale for his debut.
The Festival de Cannes Résidence continues to provide a springboard for emerging filmmakers, supporting the creation of fresh cinematic voices from around the world.