Next Step, a program organized by Cannes Critics’ Week whose recent alumni include Molly Manning Walker (“How to Have Sex”), has unveiled the participants of its milestone 10th edition.
Spearheaded by Thomas Rosso, a producer turned artistic director, the workshop selects emerging directors who have had their short films play at Cannes’ parallel section, Critics’ Week, and helps to develop their feature debuts. Over the last decade, Next Step has supported the development of 88 projects, 29 of which have been completed and 13 of which will shoot in 2024.
The filmmakers selected to take part in this edition include Anton Bialas, a French-Swedish filmmaker (“Manta Ray”) developing “Femminielli,” about a baroque nightclub in Paris; Spain’s Irati Gorostidi (“Contadores”) with “Anekumen,” a drama set in 1978 at the end of Franco’s regime in Spain; Swiss helmer Jela Hasler with “To Put Out One Fire,” about a young and idealistic urbanist working in Zurich; France’s Nans Laborde-Jourdàa (“Bolero”) with “Nous brulons,” which tells eight different stories revolving around an addiction to love; and Egypt’s Morad Mostafa (“I Promise You Paradise”) with “Aisha Can’t Fly Away Anymore,” which follows a Somali woman caught in the middle of violent tensions between Egyptians and various African nationalities.
The other participating filmmakers are Croatia’s Andrea Slaviček (“The Real Truth about the Fight”) with “Luna on Two Planets,” about a young absent-minded photographer juggling several day jobs and navigating a surrealistic life; Portugal’s Inês Teixeira (“Shimmering Bodies”) with “Under My Skin,” about a teenage girl falling in love with a mysterious man during a summer in Lisbon; Dutch helmer Vincent Tilanus (“Gold Leaf”) with “Dovetail,” about an openly gay teenager embarking on a road trip with his dysfunctional family; Mexico’s Fernanda Tovar (“Mi edad, la tuya y la edad del mundo”) with “Una Chica Triste,” about two teenagers on a swimming team, one of whom is victim of rape; and China’s Zou Jing (“Lili Alone”) with “A Girl Unknown,” a coming-of-age tale of a Chinese woman who was abandoned from the age of 6 and lived with three different families.
As many as six films developed at Next Step world premiered at prestigious film festivals in 2023. Three of them played at Cannes, notably “How to Have Sex,” Manning Walker’s bold movie which won a prize in Cannes’ Un Certain Regard section and garnered two BIFA awards, as well as the Fipresci nod at the European Film Awards. The other two are “Levante” by Lillah Halla, which played at Critics’ Week where it won the Fipresci prize, and Felipe Galvez’s “Los colonos,” which won the Fipresci nod at Un Certain Regard and will represent Chile in the Oscar race.
Rosso succeeded Remi Bonhomme as coordinator of both Critics’ Week and Next Step. He worked for more than 10 years at Why Not Productions, the Paris-based banner behind Jacques Audiard’s and Arnaud Desplechin’s films.
“We owe the success of Next Step to its concept which is centered around filmmakers and celebrates their diversity, in terms of origins, genres, styles and inspirations,” Rosso said in a statement. “We adapt our approach to each project, ranging from fiction, animation and documentary and help filmmakers progress with their treatment or finalize their script.”
The six-month residency program kicks off this month and will take place in Paris and Normandie. A prize, the Next Step Hildegarde, will be handed out to one of the projects by a jury of professionals during next year’s Cannes Film Festival.
Critics’ Week has also launched a second residency program, Next Step Volume 2, a hybrid workshop inviting five international filmmakers and three composers. The inaugural edition of the Corsica-set event took place in September.
