Belgian filmmaker Jean-Pierre Dardenne (The Kid with the Bike) and Arsinée Khanjian will be part of the Cinéfondation and Short Film jury this year at the Cannes Festival (Dardenne will be this year’s jury president).

The Cinéfondation, the festival’s own Bell lab, was created in 1998 as launching pad for new filmmakers, helping them produce and distribute their films. Fifteen filmmakers are selected each year and their projects are put on a fast-track to production and funding.

The Jury will select three films to be be awarded purses of €15,000, €11,250 and €7,500 respectively.

Apichatpong Weerasethakul is a graduate of that program. He would later go on to win the festival’s highest award, a Palme D’or for Best film, for his Loong Boonmee raleuk chat. The year was 2010.

Other jury members include Karim Ainouz (a Brazilian director and screenwriter), Emmanuel Carrère (French writer, screenwriter and director) and Yu Lik-wai (a DP from China).

Photo by Christine Plenus