CASA CINE 2023

Organized by La Napoule Art Foundation and SERENA Productions, the CASA CINE residency takes place annually over three weeks at the Château de La Napoule, during the Cannes Film Festival. It aims to accompany authors in their transition to feature film, to introduce them into professional networks and to encourage international co-productions.

This year, 4 screenwriting projects and 2 film score composition projects were selected by a jury from over 120 applications. The selected residents were Faustine Crespy (France), Marta María Borrás (Cuba), Pedro Serrazina (Portugal) and Rodrigo Litorriaga (Belgium and Chile) in screenwriting, and Cora Chung (Taiwan) and Pedro Salles Santiago (Brazil) in film score composition.

The screenwriters and composers were in residence from May 9th to 30th at the Château de La Napoule. The authors had the pleasure of being accompanied in the development of their projects by filmmakers Agnès Jaoui and Fernando Pérez, who were their mentors throughout these three weeks. Anna Glogowski was also present to prepare the residents for their project pitch session at the Cannes Film Festival.

The pitch event, organized with the Institut Français at the Pavillon Les Cinémas du Monde, offered each participant the chance to present their project and their work at the Cannes Film Festival to an audience composed of film professionals such as producers, distributors, festival representatives and directors. They were enthusiastically received by a full audience, which provided an important step for the development of each of the projects, enabling them to start future international collaborations, as well as expanding the professional networks of each of the residents.

In addition to the professional encounters resulting from the public presentation of the projects at the Cannes Film Festival, the residents also had the opportunity to meet with representatives of important entities in the industry at the Château de la Napoule. Michel Plazanet, Deputy Director of International Relations at the CNC, presented the program “Les Cinémas du Monde”, and Doriane Lhoste, representative of the Fondation Gan pour le Cinéma, came to talk to us about the Support for Creation offered by the Foundation.

From morning to night, CASA CINE provided moments of work, sharing and conviviality, music and creation. Throughout the residency, SERENA Productions and La Napoule Art Foundation also organized meetings with the general public, in partnership with cultural entities in the South Region.

In partnership with Campus Georges Méliès - Université Côte d'Azur, Cannes Bastide Rouge and Cannes Cinéma, a Cine-Rencontre was organized: an exceptional public screening of the Cuban cinema classic "Suite Habana" by filmmaker and mentor Fernando Pérez, who was present to introduce the film and for special exchanges with the audience after the screening.

Before the residency came to an end, a moment dedicated to film music was organized at the Château de La Napoule, in partnership with the M. G. Art association: strings, flutes, keyboard and percussion joined the projection of film excerpts in a magnificent evening with a group of six musicians who transported the audience to the world of famous soundtracks.

For the residents, these 21 days have been a rich learning experience with intense moments of creation. See you in 2024 at the Château de la Napoule for the next edition!