Cannes Investors Circle will present eight feature film projects to private investors during the Marché du Film
The fourth edition of the Cannes Investors Circle will present eight feature film projects to private investors during the Marché du Film in May, expanding a platform that links filmmakers with global private capital at the Festival de Cannes.
In a press statement, Cannes says that lineup features eight directors whose previous works have been screened and recognised at major international festivals. These include Juho Kuosmanen, whose Compartment No. 6 won the Grand Prix at Cannes in 2021, and Atsuko Hirayanagi, whose Oh Lucy! premiered at Semaine de la Critique in 2017 after a successful festival run as a short film. Also part of the selection is Magnus von Horn, whose The Girl with the Needle was in Competition at Cannes in 2024, and Felipe Gálvez, whose debut feature The Settlers premiered in Un Certain Regard at Cannes in 2023 and received the FIPRESCI Prize.
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The list continues with Carine Tardieu, whose Ôtez-moi d’un doute screened at Directors’ Fortnight in 2017 and whose The Ties That Bind Us (L’Attachement) was presented in Orizzonti at the Venice Film Festival in 2024, where it won the César Award for Best Film and Best Adaptation; Emanuel Pârvu, whose films include Meda, which won Best Director at Sarajevo, and Mikado, screened in San Sebastián, with his latest Three Kilometres to the End of the World premiering in Competition at Cannes 2024 and winning the Queer Palm; and Ismaël El Iraki, a La Fémis alumnus whose debut feature Zanka Contact premiered in Orizzonti at the Venice Film Festival in 2020, where lead actor Khansa Batma won Best Actress.
The statement adds that the initiative will bring together a selected group of international directors and producers with invited investors in a closed-door setting focussed on projects at the development and financing stage.
The programme will include a public-facing conference on financing trends, followed by private pitching sessions and one-on-one meetings between filmmakers and investors.
Also selected is Noé Débré, known as the screenwriter of Dheepan, which won the Palme d’Or at Cannes in 2015, and a collaborator with filmmakers including Jacques Audiard and Romain Gavras, who made his directorial debut in 2024 with A Nice Jewish Boy.
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Guillaume Esmiol
The event will open with a conference addressing trends in film financing, including the increasing role of brands in the funding ecosystem. The following day will be dedicated to private sessions, including project pitches and curated matchmaking meetings between filmmakers and investors, with access restricted to invited participants.
The Marché du Film will conclude May 23, positioning the Investors Circle within a broader industry environment where financing, co-production and distribution discussions take place alongside the festival’s official screenings.
Alexandra Zakharchenko
“Following last year’s edition, the Investors Circle has already led to concrete investment outcomes, with projects such as Gentle Monster by Marie Kreutzer and Poeta Chileno by Sebastián Lelio securing investors through the program. At the same time, participating filmmakers were also represented across prestigious festival selections. For this new edition, we are further refining the selection process, and we will once again have a very prestigious selection of projects. We also plan to expand the initiative beyond Cannes through year-round activities, such as the recent workshop we did in Trieste during When East Meets West,” says Guillaume Esmiol, Executive Director, Marché du Film.
“This year’s selection reflects a deliberate effort to bring together projects at different stages of development and financing, spanning a wide range of budgets, genres and narrative approaches. Particular attention has been given to projects that are ready to engage with private investment, combining clear market potential with strong creative positioning, including a growing presence of elevated genre-driven works,” says Alexandra Zakharchenko, Head of the Investors Circle programme.