The 2006 Atelier: Seasoned Directors & New Talents in Cannes

The Atelier du Festival, organised by the Cinéfondation, has selected for its second edition, 18 filmmakers:

Teboho Mahlatsi (South Africa), Santiago Palavecino (Argentina), Christina Andreef (Australia), Bernard Bellefroid (Belgium), José Luis Torres Leiva (Chile), Wang Bing (China), Goran Rušinovic (Croatia), Luiso Berdejo (Spain), Cruz Angeles (United States), Richard Press (United States), Fabrice Genestal (France), Michelange Quay (Haiti), Dev Benegal (India), Dover Kosahvili (Israel), Cristi Puiu (Romania), Ilya Khrzhanovsky (Russia), Ursula Meier (Switzerland) and Apichatpong Weerasethakul (Thailand).

This selection consecrates both recognised talents such as Apichatpong Weerasethakul (Jury Prize - Cannes 2004), Cristi Puiu (Prize Un Certain Regard, 2005), Wang Bing and Dover Kosahvili, as well as young directors who've already made a name for themselves thanks to their shorts, award-winners at many international film festivals, notably Michelange Quay, Richard Press and Teboho Mahlatsi.

For the laureates and their producers, invited for the entire length of the Festival de Cannes, the Atelier will bring about meetings with professionals and organise individual appointments to enable the producer, associated with the project, to complete already-acquired financing and thus quickly step up to actually making the film.

The 2005 Atelier already enabled Paz Encina (Paraguay), Gerardo Naranjo (Mexico) and Imunga Ivanga (Gabon) to finish their films; three other projects are currently being shot, and seven before the end of the year.