15/06/2016 - Dimitra Karya, director of the Cinéfondation selection, comments on her choices and the prospects that the foundation from Cannes offers to future filmmakers

The prestigious Cinéfondation selection is part of the Official Selection of the Cannes Film Festival, specialising in film schools. Dimitra Karya reflects on her choices and on the prospects which the Cinéfondation offers to future filmmakers. 

Cinergie: When you make the selection, do you base it on a variety of genres and countries from all over the world?
Dimitra Karya: Absolutely. You have to bear in mind the different genres, different countries, and for the Cinéfondation there is yet another criterion: different schools. Each time, I make an agreement to find new schools which have never been represented here and the proof is that this year we have 7 new schools taking part for the first time, and a country which has never taken part before: this is the first time that a Venezuelan school has been selected (l’Universidad de Los Andes). We make this effort and in addition, of course, there’s equality. Keeping the balance between men and women. This causes a lot of constraints and it’s quite difficult, but these are always the constraints of any programming.

How do you go about finding new schools?
We’re well known enough by now that we don’t have to canvass them. Initially, when the Cinéfondation was created (in 1998), we had to make the effort to go to the schools: my predecessor Laurent Jacob did a fair amount of travelling to promote the Cinéfondation. He went to festivals, selected the best film students he could find and succeeded in convincing schools to present as many films to him as possible. The very first Cinéfondation had a program of 15 short films, 3 of which were from the National Film and Television School. The choice was limited and the diversity of film schools difficult to attain. Today, our selection is well known in the world of festivals and film students, so we receive everything. We’ve received 2,300 films this year, and it’s worked out well as many of them come from schools we’ve never had before. Then all that’s left to do is select the good ones.

Speaking of the selection, how many of you are on the committee?
There isn’t a selection committee. I watch all the films. It’s a lot of work, admittedly, but what interesting work! You get used to it, the hardest part is sitting through the bad films - there are a lot of them. But when we see a good one, like Alexandre’s, it’s instantly gratifying and greatly rewarding.

Regarding the Cinéfondation’s jury, the Dardenne Brothers have already been presidents: Luc in 2000 and Jean-Pierre in 2012. This year it’s presided over by Naomi Kawade. How do you decide who to have?
We make suggestions. Then it’s the organisers of the festival who invite them. Our choices tend to favour directors and actors. This year I think there’s a very good jury (presided over by Naomi Kawase and composing of Marie-Josée Croze, Jean-Marie Larrieu, Radu Muntean and Santiago Loza). There’s nothing to say about Naomi Kawase, it all goes without saying. But the jury have done fantastic work and they have discussed the films very well.

Do they have the opportunity to meet the filmmakers to discuss their films? Because they didn’t speak much about the films when they awarded the prizes.
It’s true. But during a press review after the awards they talked with the directors whose films they had liked and who hadn’t received a prize, in a more confidential way. There has been a lot of generosity this year. Naomi Kawase met them: there were photo sessions with her and the winners. 

The films chosen by the Cinéfondation are shown in several programs during the Cannes Film Festival. How do you put these diverse programs together?
Yes, there are 4 programs of an hour and a half. It’s like editing, the films have to follow each other and the long ones are positioned at the end of each program. I try to make sure the preceding film isn’t detrimental to the film that follows it. It’s a lot of work. We have to watch them, watch them again and see the sequences, if we want to do a good job. So at this point, it’s really a matter of films, not a matter of countries. Ideally I try to link films with quite varied backgrounds, but it’s not possible to fulfil all the criteria. Consistency is more inherent in films.

Read the full interview on Cinergie.

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(Translated from French by Hannah Thompson)