Armenia will be represented at the 80th edition of the Cannes International Film Festival in 2027 with four new short films produced under the Next Step Studio initiative of the festival’s Critics’ Week section, where the country will be the Guest of Honor.
As part of the program, four Armenian and four international directors will collaborate in creative pairs to produce four short films in Armenia. The films will premiere at the 2027 Cannes Film Festival.
The initiative is supported by Armenia’s Ministry of Education, Science, Culture and Sports in partnership with the Guild of Armenian Film Directors and Producers.
The four Armenian directors selected through a competition were announced during the 23rd Golden Apricot Yerevan International Film Festival. Deputy Minister of Education, Science, Culture and Sports Tigran Virabyan and Guild President Artyom Baghdasaryan attended the event.
The selected directors are Armik Israelyan, Sona Khachatryan, Raffi Movsisyan and Naira Sargsyan. They will later be paired with four international directors. The creative teams will be announced on August 19 during the closing ceremony of the CineLink industry platform at the Sarajevo Film Festival.
The program in Armenia will include script development, workshops with international experts, production preparation, filming, post-production and the presentation of the completed films.
The projects were chosen by a professional selection committee. Armenian and French producers first shortlisted 12 projects, after which interviews with the finalists took place on July 16 at the Cinema House in Yerevan. The selection committee included program coordinator Juliette Canon, producer and Next Step Studio curator Dominique Welinski, and Armenian producer of the Next Step Studio Armenia program Artyom Baghdasaryan.
The films will be shot in Armenian with the participation of Armenian actors. Beyond bringing the four films to Cannes, the initiative will give Armenian filmmakers an opportunity to present their future feature-length projects to international partners, develop co-productions and strengthen the global presence of Armenian cinema.
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