Two films by Columbia University School of the Arts Film Program students have been selected for the Cinéfondation at Cannes Film Festival, which runs May 11-22 this year: A Viagem (The Trip), by Simão Cayatte; and Big Muddy, by Jefferson Moneo. Cayatte's film screens in the 24th Annual Columbia University Film Festival, which opened April 25 in New York.
The Cinéfondation was created in 1998. Its mission is based on three programs: The Cinéfondation Selection, which presents movies from film schools in the framework of the Official Selection, and of which Cayette and Moneo are a part; The Cinéfondation Résidence, which hosts twelve young directors in Paris each year to help them finalize the script of their first or second film; and The Cinéfondation Atelier, which invites around fifteen international directors and their producers to Cannes to help them arrange additional funding to complete their projects. The filmmakers are selected based on the merit of their projects.
This year, The Cinéfondation Selection is screening 16 graduate films, representing 11 countries. In total, 1,589 films were submitted for review, from 360 film schools in 82 countries.
The Cinéfondation jury is headed by filmmaker Michel Gondry, and also includes Julie Gayet, Jessica Hausner, Corneliu Porumbouiu, and João Pedro Rodrigues. The jury will announce three Cinéfondation Selection prizes on May 20.
In addition, Kofi, directed by John Foss (Film student), and written and produced by Ian Kelly (Film student), has been accepted into the Emerging Filmmaker Showcase in The American Pavilion at Cannes. The showcase provides an opportunity for young filmmakers to have their work seen by Cannes Festival and Film Market attendees. All films will be available for screening on an ongoing basis at the pavilion during the festival, and prizes will be awarded to the top 16 filmes. Those winning films will be featured in a special showcase screening for an invited audience of industry professionals.
Film Professor Annette Insdorf will be reporting live from the 2011 Cannes Film Festival for Arts Express. She has reported from the festival for over a quarter century, previously co-anchoring with Roger Ebert for Bravo and The Independent Film Channel. Her coverage will include individual films, as well as breaking news announcing the winners at the end of the festival, and can be followed here.
Additionally, on Friday, May 20, Roger Ebert's television program "Ebert Presents At the Movies" (10:30 pm, Channel 13/PBS in New York) included a segment from Cannes, for which Insdorf was interviewed. The full interview with Insdorf is be available on the program's website, here ("Cannes Past and Present") and here ("Reflections on Cannes").
