The festival features a competition of 60 first films: 10 features, 10 european shorts, 10 french shorts and 30 student films.

Since 1989, the Premiers Plans Film Festival takes place each year in the city of Angers, France. In 2009 its competitive sections, programs and other events attracted some 65 000 filmgoers who discussed and shared their passion of cinema with young European directors and other professionals. Through the years, the Festival has become a major meeting of European cinematographic creation, as numerous directors such as Fatih Akin, Nuri Bilge Ceylan, Joachim Lafosse, Matteo Garrone, Arnaud Desplechin, Xavier Beauvois, Nick Park, Cristi Puiu, Paolo Sorrentino and Thomas Vinterberg were originally discovered in Angers with the screening of their first films.

Each year, the Official Selection presents 80 european first films divided in five competitive sections: European first feature films, European first short films, French first short films, student films, and European animated films, as well as two out of competition sections: free style and “next shot”. The official jury and the public award the laureates with 200 000 euros in prize.

Premiers Plans has two major characteristics: it enables the meeting between the public and filmmakers from one generation, and also gives the opportunity to discover or rediscover masterpieces of European cinema on screen through retrospectives highly appreciated and attended by journalists and professionals.