In parallel with the Cannes Film Festival, the Cannes film market takes place from May 17 to 25.
The opportunity for industry professionals to meet, discuss, and above all, sell their projects.
This year, for the second consecutive year, the producers were able, through the Cannes Screenplay List of Wscripted, sponsored by Mubi, to discover the work of women screenwriters.
Launched in 2020 during the Toronto International Film Festival, the platform has become a tool for certain filmmakers to make their voices heard in an environment that is still overwhelmingly male.
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Spirit of collaboration and network effect
Ellie Jamen, co-founder of Wscripted, explains that the birth of the platform was made
“at an auspicious time for the support of female screenwriters in the film industry”
.
Indeed, according to the data transmitted by the platform, women authors are under-represented in the film industry.
To address this imbalance, Wscripted facilitates the discovery
of “projects written by women for producers, agents and production companies”
.
The team also includes Marine Haziza, co-founder, who oversees the technological development of the platform through an innovative artificial intelligence solution.
Artists, both professionals and beginners, submit their projects for television series, feature and short films, as well as books or plays for free on the platform.
Created two years ago, it now has 1,500 screenwriters from North America and Europe who regularly have the opportunity to present their projects to professionals in the sector who are likely to collaborate with them.
An opportunity that can open up others, as scriptwriter Anne Loriot explains
: “What is interesting is that you can apply to pitch but also to attend the pitches.
It allows you to know what international productions are looking for, their editorial line, to know the producers.
It's very formative
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Anne Loriot joined the platform as soon as it was launched.
After a career as an op' director, the one who has always liked to tell stories changed her shoulder camera five years ago by joining the Séquence7 association which aims to
"enhance and promote the profession of screenwriter".
His collaboration with Wscripted allowed him to internationalize his network but also to draw inspiration from other screenwriters registered on the platform
.
“It is important that there is this network effect, to listen to the projects of others, to project new universes.
It is both to highlight the authors, but also to create a network, that we feed each other on this new way of writing audiovisual fiction
, ”she says.
Egyptian-American screenwriter and director Dina Amer shares this point of view:
“Sometimes, thanks to this kind of openness and opportunity, you can meet someone with whom you will make your next film, collaborations can form”
.
Although she is aware of the ferocity and competition that reigns in the world of cinema, the filmmaker remains convinced that it is time for women to
“pass through the doors as quickly as possible”
which are only beginning to open for them .
:
"The female eye sees things in a different way and I think that may be what the world needs right now"
.
For this lover of France and French cinema,
“there is a space for everyone to express themselves and bring their light to society”.
“If the female characters are too binary, perpetuate stereotypes, fit into the patriarchal mold or offer nothing new, the project is shelved, even if it is well written.
It's an editorial choice, we're trying to get things moving."
Ellie Jamen, co-founder of Wscripted
This space, Dina Amer seems on the way to finding it since her new feature film appears on the Cannes Screenplay List of Wscripted, alongside 30 other projects.
Baptized
Cain & Abel
and inspired by a true story, the film follows the opposite trajectories of two brothers, one a policeman, the other radicalized, who find themselves face to face.
On the strength of her first experience with her film
You Look Like Me,
for which she was supported by Spike Lee as executive producer, the filmmaker who makes her films in French joined the platform very recently with the aim of participating in the call for projects from the Cannes list.
Expanded this year to 31 projects, the list includes 25 projects in English and 6 in French.
Among them, film scripts from film festivals such as Sundance, the main independent film festival in the United States, which recommends the projects of its "alumnis" (filmmakers whom the festival supports through workshops or grants ), but also by associations such as Scenaristerie in France.
The other projects on the list were selected from among all those sent to the platform.
To study them, a committee of 20 people was formed in March: ten English speakers and ten French women, screenwriters from the Séquence7 association.
“It was super interesting to see how each could define a strong protagonist”,
explains Anne Loriot who was part of the reading committee.
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The idea is to
"promote projects where the characters are quite developed (female or male)"
, completes Ellie Jamen.
She continues,
“If the female characters are too binary, perpetuate stereotypes, fit the patriarchal mold or offer nothing new, the project is not selected, even if it is well written.
It's an editorial choice, we're trying to get things moving
.
While the Cannes film market closes its doors on Wednesday, the exchange of business cards and negotiations are going well on the Croisette, with, perhaps, contracts concluded for the projects of the Cannes Screenplay List.
Response in theaters, in a few months or years.
Marine Haziza and Ellie Jamen, the two founders of the start-up Wscripted at Station F. Wscripted
