Editor

From October 1st 2009 to February 15th 2010, the Résidence plays host to 6 new winners to accompany them in the writing of their first or second feature, and facilitate the preparation of their film. 

Gilles Jacob and his jury selected three female and three male directors out of a total of 170 candidates.

• - Paz Fabrega (Costa Rican, 30) observes in Todos Nosotros (2nd feature) the behaviour of a middle class when faced with social inequality.

• - Ioana Uricaru (Romanian, 38) tells in After the Wedding (1st feature) the story of a young Romanian woman, Mara, who marries an American and settles into a home in Virginia with her 6 year old son.

• - Bani Khosnoudi (Iranian, 32) describes in Ziba (1st feature) how one easily retreats into a social environment that one could in fact escape from.

• - Zhang Yue (Chinese, 32) tells us in For Vain (1st feature) about Guo (20) leaving prison and his confrontation with the father of his uncle, who has been paralysed for many years and who he is in charge of looking after.

• - Oliver Hermanus (South African, 26) looks closely in Two Lovers (2nd feature) at the current-day relationship between Amina (20), from a devout Muslim family, and Raf (41), an Afrikaner whose baby she is expecting.

• - Andrew Legge (Irish, 33) follows in Clovis Teazle, (1st feature, silent) the journey of Clovis, a young female doctor, through the slums of Paris in 1916: a town that is dying after 1000 years of industrialization and ruled by an incompetent dictator.

The Résidence de la Cinéfondation has had very encouraging results: 64 of the projects it has helped since its creation (in 2000) have been shot and, for most, distributed. The percentage rises to 89% if you take into account the films currently in pre-production.

In 2009, films written at the Résidence were noticed by international festivals - and some of them won prizes:

At the Festival de Cannes: Raya Martin (The Philippines) and Corneliu Porumboiu (Romania) were in Un Certain Regard and Eduardo Valente (Brazil) had a Special Screening. Sebastian Lelio (Chile) was in the Director's Fortnight.

At Lucerne, Xiaolu Guo (China) won the Golden Leopard and Babak Jalali (Iran) and Oliver Hermanus were in Competition.

In Venice at the Mostra 2009, Vimukti Jayasundera (Sri Lanka) was in Competition.

At Sarajevo 2009, Vladimir Perisic (Serbia) won the award for the Best First Film, and also for Best Actor

At the San Sebastian Film Festival: Pelin Esmer (Turkey) was in Competition.