Cannes Cinéma de Demain · La Résidence
Four and a half months in Paris to write a first or second feature, for six directors under 35. The eligibility rule rules most people out: you need a prior selection at a Category A festival, with no exceptions.
The Cannes residence gives six directors a room in Paris and four and a half months to develop a feature project, twice a year. It is one of the better-known development programmes and one of the most narrowly gated.
Deadlines
| Tier | Date | Fee |
|---|---|---|
| Application deadline | 30 September 2026 | No fee stated on the official pages |
The rules that matter
- The 53rd session runs 15 March – 31 July 2027, with six directors per session and twelve a year.
- Applicants must be under 35 on the first day of the session.
- Your previous short or first feature must have been selected for a Category A festival — Cannes, Berlin, Venice, Toronto, Busan, San Sebastián, Locarno, Rotterdam, Sundance or Clermont-Ferrand. The rules state: "No exceptions will be made."
- French residents and citizens are not eligible.
- You may apply a maximum of three times.
Two corrections to our earlier listing
We previously listed this as free entry. No fee is stated anywhere on the official rules or registration pages, which is not the same as the organiser saying it is free, so we have removed the claim. We also had the wrong link: cinemadedemain.fr fails its TLS check and is not the official host. The official page is on festival-cannes.com.
Deadline or fee changed? Tell us and we will re-check it on the organiser’s own site.