The second edition of the Cannes Market’s Investors Circle will see 10 filmmakers, including Ruben Östlund and Nadav Lapid, present their latest projects to private investors.
The directors and their lead producers will pitch their films, which range from €1-20m in budget, on May 19 at an invitation-only event in the Plage des Palmes.
Alongside Östlund and Lapid is Japanese filmmaker Chie Hayakawa, whose debut Plan 75 received a Camera d’Or special mention in 2022. Other directors include Irish filmmaker Lorcan Finnegan, who is already at the festival for Midnight Screenings title The Surfer, and Italian director Laura Samani who premiered her debut Small Body in 2021 Critics’ Week.
Rounding out the selection is Rakhshan Banietemad from Iran; Uta Beria from Georgia; Teodora Ana Mihai from Romania; Agnieszka Smoczyńska from Poland; and Jorge Thielen Armand from Venezuela.
No details were given of the projects, but Ostlund has previously said that his next film will be The Entertainment System Is Down, a social satire set on a long-haul flight, with Keanu Reeves recently rumoured to star.
It was previously reported that Lapid, a Berlin Golden Bear winner Synonyms, was working on a feature titled Yes!, about a man who never says “no” and always says “yes”, which received backing from the Israel Film Fund last year.
This year’s selection committee included ARTE France Cinéma CEO Remi Burah; French film and TV entrepreneur Serge Hayat; Tamara Tatishvili, head of Rotterdam’s Hubert Bals Fund; and Wonsun Shin consultant specializing in co-production projects.
The event will kick off with keynote sessions from industry professionals before the pitching sessions take place, followed by a networking event.
Last year’s inaugural Investors Circle saw projects from filmmakers including Radu Jude, Clément Cogitore and Marina Ziolkowski with budgets up to €12m.
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