The Cannes Film Festival Résidence unveils its selection
- Anna Llargués Muñoz, Vytautas Katkus, Dorian Jespers, Sam Manacsa, Ananth Subramaniam and Agustina Sánchez Gavier are joining the prestigious Paris-based screenwriting support programme
Since its creation in 2000, the Cannes Film Festival Résidence has hosted more than 300 filmmakers hailing from some 60 countries, providing a springboard for many talents who have gone on to enjoy international success. Among them are Carla Simón, Payal Kapadia, László Nemes, Lukas Dhont, Lucrecia Martel, Kornél Mundruczó, Corneliu Porumboiu, Karim Aïnouz, Amat Escalante, Nadine Labaki and Nadav Lapid.
The 52nd session of the Résidence will take place in Paris (for four-and-a-half months), physically hosting three women and three male directors who will work (with personalised support) on the screenplay for their first or second feature.
Standing out among those selected are three young European filmmakers, including Lithuania's Vytautas Katkus, the director of photography on Toxic (Golden Leopard at Locarno in 2024), whose directorial feature debut, The Visitor, won the Best Director Award last year at Karlovy Vary.
Also selected are Spaniard Anna Llargués Muñoz (whose first short, Crack of Dawn, was in competition at Cannes in 2023, in the La Cinef competition) and Belgium's Dorian Jespers (who has won multiple awards for his short films, most notably with the Tiger Award at IFFR in 2020 with Sun Dog, and was selected for the 2025 Directors' Fortnight with Loynes), who are both preparing their first features.
Three other filmmakers developing their debut features will also be taking part: Filipino helmer Sam Manacsa, Malaysia's Ananth Subramaniam and German-based Argentinian director Agustina Sánchez Gavier.
As a reminder, the last four sessions of the Cannes Film Festival Résidence have welcomed Saulé Bliuvaité, Harry Lighton, Emma Branderhorst, Joecar Hanna, Oliver McGoldrick, Mansi Maheshwari, Alica Bednáriková, Maksym Nakonechnyi, Federico Luis, Laís Santos Araújo, Flóra Anna Buda, Andrea Gatopoulos, Xiwen Cong, Simon Maria Kubiena, Constance Tsang, Rodrigo Ribeyro, Baran Sarmad, Dian Weys, Sofia Alaoui, Diwa Shah, Theo Montoya, Eglé Razumaite, Anastasia Veber and Rudolf Fitzgerald-Leonard to Paris.
(Translated from French)
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