Cannes Film Festival is notorious for its lack of women-directed programming, but Breaking Through the Lens is working towards making the fest, and the film industry, more inclusive. The grassroots movement focuses on “measurable actions to overcome the greatest barrier to women and non-binary filmmakers” — access to finance, and is now accepting submissions to pitch at its 2020 event. The initiative, now in its third year, is open to female-identifying and non-binary directors with a feature film project in late-stage development.
“Ten film projects will be selected and presented at an invite-only event at the Cannes Film Festival to an audience of Financiers, Sales Agents, and Distributors,” a press release details. The guest list includes a selection of private investors and companies such as Lionsgate, Headgear, and Film4.
Immediately after pitching at the event, the 10 successful applicants will be “connected via email to funders that have registered interest in their project, and every effort will be taken to help them close the deal.”
More information can be found below and via the Breaking Through the Lens website, which includes details on how to apply. The deadline to submit is February 10.
There is no restriction in terms of genre, but the project must have:
1. A strong, finished script in the case of narrative (or detailed beat sheet in the case of documentaries).
2. A producer with feature film experience attached.
3. Strong visual treatment, which includes a Director’s Statement and artistic references.
4. A full budget and finance plan ready should you be selected.
We will consider favourably projects that have:
5. Key crew and/or cast attached.
6. Initial finance raised.
This is about finding films with strong artist merit, that are in a position to receive finance and go into production within the next 12 months. We invite films that have already participated in or applied to the program to submit again, as long as their project has moved forward significantly.
Submission Deadline: 10th February, 2020
Shortlist Notification: 28th February, 2020
Final Notification: No later than 25th March 2020
