Investors Circle 2025

Source: Thomas Nolf / dpa / Pamela Russmann / Hildur Ýr Ómarsdóttir / Diego Araya / Edvin Kalić / Aurélie L

Top row: Sebastián Lelio, Marcela Said, Lukas Dhont, Eliza Hittman, Jasmila Žbanić; Bottom row: Jessica Hausner, Hlynur Pálmason, Kornél Mundruczó, Giacomo Abbruzzese, Marie Kreutzer

Cannes Investors Circle is returning for its third edition, with Chilean director Sebastián Lelio, Belgium’s Lukas Dhont, Austria’s Marie Kreutzer and Iceland’s Hlynur Pálmason among 10 directors selected to pitch their latest feature-film projects in development to VIP private investors. 

Lelio, who won the international feature Oscar in 2018 for A Fantastic Woman, will screen his new film The Wave in Cannes Première at this year’s festival. Cannes Première will also screen Pálmason’s new feature The Love That Remains, after the Icelandic filmmaker’s previous visit to Cannes in 2022 with Godland.

Dhont won the Caméra d’Or for Girl in 2018 and the Grand Prix for Close in 2022, while Kreutzer also last at Cannes in 2022 with Corsage in Un Certain Regard.

The other filmmakers taking part are Italian Disco Boy director Giacomo Abbruzzese; Eliza Hittman, US director of Never Rarely Sometimes Always; Austrian Jessica Hausner, selected twice for Competition at Cannes with Little Joe (2019) and Club Zero (2023); Hungarian Pieces Of A Woman filmmaker Kornél Mundruczó, winner of the 2014 Un Certain Regard for White God; Chile-France filmmaker Marcela Said, at Critics’ Week in 2017 with Los Perros; and Bosnia and Herzegovina’s Jasmila Žbanić, director of Grbavica and Quo Vadis, Aida?.

The 10 projects come from eight countries and will be presented on May 18 as part of a private invite-only event at the Cannes market. Projects range from €3m to over €9m in budget level. No details of the projects were revealed.

Renoir by Chie Hayakawa was pitched at last year’s Investors Circle and has been selected to screen in Competition at this year’s Cannes.

“As new economic models continue to emerge, the Marché du Film reaffirms its role as a global accelerator for innovative film financing,” said Guillaume Esmiol, executive director of the Cannes market. “For its third edition, the Investors Circle is quickly becoming a reference point for those looking to engage in equity-driven support for independent film. We are proud to provide a platform where auteur cinema and financial strategy align.”

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