06/10/2025 - Alica Bednáriková, Maksym Nakonechnyi, Federico Luis, Laís Santos Araújo, Baran Sarmad and Dian Weys are hard at work on their upcoming projects in Paris

l-r: Baran Sarmad (© DR), Federico Luis (© Philipp Nemenz), Alica Bednáriková (© Liza Nedayvoda), Dian Weys (© DR), Laís Santos Araújo (© Luciano Pedro) and Maksym Nakonechnyi (© DR)

Since its creation in 2000, the Cannes Film Festival Résidence has welcomed upwards of 250 directors hailing from sixty or so countries and acted as a springboard for numerous filmmakers who have since gone on to find international success. Recent examples are Diego Cespedes (The Mysterious Gaze of the Flamingo [+see also:
film review
interview: Diego Céspedes
film profile]), Dea Kulumbegashvili (April [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Dea Kulumbegashvili
film profile]), Payal Kapadia (All We Imagine as Light [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile]) and Chiang Wei Liang (Mongrel [+see also:
film review
film profile]), but the list of former residents also includes Kornél Mundruczó, Nadav Lapid, Lukas Dhont, Carla Simón, László Nemes, Oliver Hermanus, Wang Bing, Karim Aïnouz, Nadine Labaki, Rungano Nyoni, Lucrecia Martel and Corneliu Porumboiu, to name just a few.

Between 1 October 2025 and 15 February 2026, the 49th session of the Cannes Film Festival Résidence (overseen by Stéphanie Lamome) is welcoming three women directors and three male directors “to watch” to Paris.

The initiative will see two of these filmmakers working on their second features: Ukrainian talent Maksym Nakonechnyi (discovered in Cannes’ Un Certain Regard section in 2022 via Butterfly Vision [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Maksym Nakonechnyi
film profile] and awarded the Special Eurimages Development and Co-Production Prize this year in Berlin’s Co-Production Market thanks to the project The Earth is Flat – I Flew Around and Saw It – read our interview) and Argentina’s Federico Luis (the recipient of Cannes’ Critics’ Week’s 2024 Grand Prize via Simon of the Mountain).

They’re joined by four filmmakers who are preparing their first features: Slovakia’s Alica Bednáriková (who was selected for Cinéfondation’s short films competition in Cannes 2022 via Liquid Bread – read our interview – and who’s now developing Attention Whores), Brazil’s Laís Santos Araújo (awarded the Special Jury Prize by the Berlinale’s Generation 14plus jury in 2022 for her short film Infantaria), Iran’s Baran Sarmad (acclaimed in Locarno 2019 for her short Spotted Yellow and who’s currently prepping Mellow Pink) and South Africa’s Dian Weys (who competed in Cannes this year with her short work Vultures and in Clermont-Ferrand in 2023 with Bergie).

These six promising directors will also be attending Cannes between 12 and 23 May 2026 on the occasion of the festival’s 79th edition.

(Translated from French)