Une des classes du dispositif Lycéens au Cinéma © DR
School students meet industry professional from Marché du Film
Every year, the Festival de Cannes organises 25 screenings for classes from schools in the Provence-Alpes-Côte d’Azur region which are part of the ‘Lycéens et Apprentis au cinema’ programme. A number of students also have the chance to meet an industry professional.
Thursday May 19. 11 a.m. A throng of fifty or so students from Lycée Zola in Aix en Provence spills through the corridors of the Palais. These Year 11 and 12 students are here to attend a talk by industry professional Dominique Welinski from Marché du Film, who worked as an arthouse distributor for 20 years and is now a producer. Most of the students will also attend an afternoon screening of The Murderer later on in the day, while a handful will instead see a series of short films from Directors’ Fortnight. The students are part of the nationwide ‘Lycéens et apprentis au cinéma’ (student apprentices of film) programme in France, which allows students to attend in-theatre screenings of a number of films in their original languages in the course of the year. Students from the Provence-Alpes-Côte d’Azur region also have the chance to spend a day at the Festival de Cannes.
Dominique Welinski explained the difference between the Official Selection, Directors’ Fortnight and Critics’ Week, and between the various film industry professions at Marché du Film, such as foreign vendors, distributors and producers. She also discussed the challenges surrounding independent distribution, prompting a flurry of questions from the teachers: How many distributors are there in France? Are partnerships with media such as France Culture helpful in bringing films to the big screen? Can selection at Cannes be bad for a film?
The students themselves mainly stay quiet. Only one girl asks whether animated films are selected at Cannes, and how the members of the Jury are chosen. At the end of the talk, they admit: “We don’t know enough about film to ask questions.” All the same, everyone claims to have learnt a lot. “It was wicked,” concludes one student.
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