Femis International Programme

France has long been a driving force for international cinema. With its major festivals, influential critics, and a strong theatrical market, it plays a decisive role in shaping the careers of filmmakers worldwide. For many, recognition in France, and potentially at the Cannes Film Festival, marks a turning point. The country is also a driving force for co-production, often enabling films to reach production through its unique funding ecosystem. France remains a territory of cinema that is particularly favourable to artistic creation, offering both cultural visibility and concrete opportunities for development and production.

This dynamic is closely reflected in the trajectory of La Fémis alumni, whose work regularly circulates within international co-production networks and major festivals. Rooted in the tradition of a French film school, La Fémis is nonetheless deeply anchored in an international ecosystem, as reflected in the diversity of its students and alumni. The school has welcomed filmmakers and screenwriters from across Europe, Asia, South America, and beyond, including Franco Lolli, Leyla Bouzid, Ruosong Huang, Deniz Gamze Ergüven, Kamen Kalev, Akihiro Hata, Eskil Vogt, and many others, whose careers embody a strong connection between artistic ambition and international circulation.

Through its training and networks, La Fémis supports emerging filmmakers in developing projects that resonate across borders and engage with co-production dynamics. Within this framework, La Fémis launches an international programme dedicated to the development of first feature films.

Designed for emerging filmmakers up to 35 years old from around the world, this programme offers a unique space between a writing residency and an intensive professional programme, combining script development, hands-on practice, and immersion in the French film ecosystem.

Develop your first feature - from script to screen
Participants join the programme with a first feature project already in development, even at an early stage. Over eight months, they are guided by professional scriptwriters toward a strong first version of their screenplay or a detailed traitment while deepening their artistic vision, directing skills, and understanding of the production process.
Through close mentorship and a collective atelier model, participants engage in a continuous dialogue between writing and filmmaking.

Improve your filmmaking skills
Throughout the programme, inspired by the pedagogy of La Fémis, projects are continuously put to the test through hands-on workshops designed to bring participants’ scripts to life by bridging writing and filmmaking practice. Through scene analysis, casting, location scouting, and directing actors, students develop a deeper understanding of how narrative choices translate on screen. The technical workshops (image, sound, framing, directing, editing, casting) are intended to inform and enrich the writing process, helping students better grasp the challenges of mise-en-scène and refine their scripts accordingly.

Networking and coproduction opportunities
At the same time, they are immersed in the French and European film ecosystem, developing a concrete understanding of how projects move from development to production, and how to position themselves within an European context.
The programme concludes with a final presentation and pitch, enabling participants to present and position their project to industry professionals.

What they participants will do concretely :

• Develop their project through intensive feedback, rewriting, and script doctoring, alongside the creation of a professional dossier, visual materials, and pitch training
• Explore their artistic approach and filmmaking skills by alternating between writing and practice, testing scenes through directing actors, staging, and hands-on work (framing, sound, and casting as part of mise en scène)
• Gain insight into production and co-production through dedicated modules on financing and funding opportunities available to international filmmakers, meetings with producers, and preparation for pitching
• Engage with French auteur cinema through a curated programme of screenings, including weekly sessions and discussions with filmmakers, producers, and industry professionals, featuring both French productions and international co-productions.
• Receive training and awareness on eco-production and the prevention of sexual and gender-based violence (SGBV)

Outcomes
By the end of the programme, participants will have :

• A completed and structured treatment, ready to be presented to producers and funding bodies
• Strengthened artistic and technical skills
• Greater confidence in navigating the filmmaking process and industry relationships, grounded in La Fémis’ expertise and pedagogical model
• Initial connections within the French and European film ecosystem

Who is it for ?

• Emerging filmmakers at the early stage of their careers, including recent graduates from film schools or equivalent professional backgrounds
• With a first feature project in early development (at least at the stage of a developed synopsis)
• Looking for an intensive, practice-based experience rather than a traditional academic course
• A maximum of 10 participants will be selected.
• Duration : 8 months (approx. 28 weeks) / From October to May 2027 (indicative calendar)
• The programme would be offered on a fee-paying basis.

Contact : Ralitsa Assenova r.assenova@femis.fr