Announced from this year’s Cannes Film Festival, Projeto Paradiso – a Brazilian private foundation that supports local film and TV professionals – is teaming with the Centre des Écritures Cinématographiques (CECI) – an artistic cultural center in Moulin d’Andé, France – on a new screenwriting residency for Brazilian filmmakers. The initiative, part of the Projeto Paradiso Residencies Program, has also received support from the French Embassy in Brazil.
Applications for this year’s first residency will be invite-only and distributed to screenwriter-directors working on their second or third feature. The program is looking for projects destined for a theatrical release, with no restrictions on genre or theme. Any selected project must plan to work with a French co-producer.
According to Josephine Bourgois,executive director of Projeto Paradiso, “This opportunity is intended for Brazilian filmmakers who need space, time, and structure to develop their creative freedom. In addition to flexible personal and pedagogical support, the renowned Moulin d’Andé residence offers an exceptional environment for concentration and encourages interdisciplinary meetings, which are fundamental elements to the development of national projects for the international market.”
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Although the partnership with ProjetoParadiso is new, the Moulin d’Andé has worked with Brazilian filmmakers in the past. In 2018, director Esmir Filho, a member of the Paradiso Talent Network, participated in a residency at the center with the project “Verlust.”
“It was a great surprise tobe welcomedinto an environment that overflows with nature and breathes cinema,”Filho recalled of the experience. “The old mill and its rooms overlooking the woodlands of Normandy were a meeting point in the 1960s for filmmakers like François Truffaut, who even shot scenes of ‘Jules and Jim’there. The immersion allowed me to detach from time and work hard on my script.The integration withscreenwriters from different parts of the world added a lot to the experience, and the specialized consultancy was precise and sensitive.”
To date,the Moulin d’Andé residency has supported more than 500 projects, more than half of which went into production andwere releasedin theaters.Brazilian projects selected for the next residency willbe announcedon July 1, andthe residency will be heldfrom August 26 to September 15.
