23/10/2019 - Dedicated to French-speaking writers, the residency that takes place on the beaches of Brittany is ready to host its next scriptwriting coaching programme

It has been more than ten years since Le Groupe Ouest’s writers’ village invited the first batch of writers and directors to be coached in scriptwriting back in 2008. Since then, hundreds of professionals have participated in Le Groupe Ouest’s Annual Selection, which has been the flagship feature-film development programme for French-speaking writers.

Taking place on the beaches of Brittany, and more precisely in Plounéour-Brignogan-Plages, the residency invites French-speaking screenwriters, directors and writer-directors to immerse themselves in a training programme consisting of group sessions or individual follow-ups. Through a meticulously detailed approach, the participants will be able to burrow down to the very essence of their stories. Through group work and the thorough exploration of each artistic proposal, the participants – who must be developing their debut, sophomore or third feature film (either fiction or animation), and can be at an early or a more advanced stage – will benefit from a real incubator and accelerator to help them tell a story with both a strong narrative and a coherent meaning.

The call for new projects, which closes at noon on Monday 2 December (for which you can apply by clicking here), is open to writers and filmmakers from all countries and social backgrounds. Potential participants should have had at least one successful experience in screenwriting, covering documentaries, animation and short films, as well as a selection for a festival, either on a national or an international level. Also eligible are writers from performing arts, literature and visual arts backgrounds, whose works have been released and selected for national or international events.

In detail, Le Groupe Ouest’s Annual Selection includes four workshops of screenwriting coaching supervised by script consultants, and online working sessions. As part of the programme, the writers have a nine-month follow-up for each project, running from April-December 2020 and supervised by one of the main script consultants and three complementary script consultants. This will allow them to constantly exchange perspectives and brainstorm the possibilities for each project. Also, this is a unique chance for the writers to focus on their projects on a daily basis, and exchange views and opinions on other projects that are at the same stage of development.

Some of the recent and upcoming projects by former participants in Le Groupe Ouest’s Annual Selection are Christian Volckman’s The Room [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Christian Volckman
film profile], which was developed in 2012 and was successfully released this year in 17 countries; Leyla Bouzid’s A Story of Love and Desire [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile], which is currently shooting and was developed in 2016; the historical drama Akelarre [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Pablo Agüero
film profile] by Paris-based Argentinian filmmaker Pablo Agüero, who participated with his co-writer Katell Guillou in 2012; and Chloé Mazlo’s Skies of Lebanon [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile], co-penned with Yacine Badday and developed as part of the 2016 Annual Selection.

Other participants that were previously picked by the Annual Selection include the Cannes Caméra d’Or winner Houda Benyamina and her co-writer Romain Compingt, for Divines [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Houda Benyamina
film profile]; Bulgarian director and Locarno winner Ralitza Petrova, with Godless [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Ralitza Petrova
film profile]; Yalda, a Night for Forgiveness [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Massoud Bakhshi
film profile] by Iran’s Massoud Bakhshi, which was awarded at Sundance; Sabrina B Karine and Alice Vial, who both wrote Agnus Dei [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Lou de Laâge
film profile]; Alanté Kavaïté; Lucile Hadžihalilović; and Claude Barras (My Life as a Courgette [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Claude Barras
film profile]).