‘You Get the Bigger Calls When You’re Here’: Cannes’ Focus COPRO’ Gives First-Time Feature Filmmakers a Launching Pad
variety.comChristopher Vourlias A host of emerging talents gathered at Cannes’ Plage des Palmes on May 22 for the latest edition of Focus COPRO’, an event launched in 2018 by the Cannes Court Métrage Rendez-vous Industry program to give a boost to first-time feature directors.
Seven up-and-coming filmmakers whose previous shorts have bowed at the Cannes Film Festival and other prestigious fests including Berlin, New Directors New Films and Clermont-Ferrand, gathered under sunny skies on the French Riviera for an informal lunch with a host of industry decision-makers.
The event offered a casual setting for the directors to chat about their upcoming feature debuts, seated alongside veteran producers and sales agents, as well as reps from leading co-production markets, labs, residencies, workshops and institutions focused on identifying and nurturing emerging talent.
Previous editions of Focus COPRO’ have yielded success stories such as “Piggy,” Spanish director Carlota Pereda’s boundary-pushing body-image horror which premiered at Sundance last year.
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