The largest, most exciting international gathering of entertainment
professionals is the Cannes Film Festival and Market on the French Riviera,
with 40,000 film professionals in attendance. NETWORK!


The Film Program Intensive Master Class of 2008 was a great success! The Private screening of the winners of the First Time Film Festival from LA featuring the winning film, TAKE was also a great success with a great Q & A with the film's producer, Chet Thomas. The attendees questions Chet for an hour.

A Writer/Director 2006 attendee, Los Angeles, California
" 'Film Program Cannes' was everything I expected and more. Literally the
best Producing course I have taken. Robert Nickson (FPC Core director/instructor)
was informative and to the point. He presented a 'real approach'
to Producing our next film instead of a series of "War Stories"
often heard at other professional seminars.
Without reservation, I highly recommend this course. "
---- from a writer/director 2006 attendee

Watch Lola Run to the Film Program Cannes!

Advertising 2.0 NYC Agenda CLICK

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Funding/Networking/Producing
Master Course

Attendee's Comments FPC
Workshop San Francisco:"I wanted
to find out about the film markets
and Ackerman was very
informative."
"Yes, and exceeded. I am glad how
in depth Ackerman went into
producing."
"The class was well structured and
the organization of the handouts
was impressive. Ackerman is a
great story teller!!"
"Ralph is a storehouse of great
information!"
"I loved hearing the tricks of the
trade for the markets, producing,
etc."
"A lot of information. Important."
"Wealth of information."
"Ralph has a nice way of educating
those who really want to learn."
"Yes. Ackerman had a very well
organized seminar."
"Workshop be improved. This is the
best producing class I have ever
had, including San Francisco State
University, etc."

"I feel The Film Programme Cannes
Intensive is the catapult I have
been looking for to get me to that
next level. That level where I can
learn to meld all my cinematic
passions, business knowledge,
distribution skills, and pure love of
film into a uniquely visual cinematic
product."--FPC Scholarship
applicant

6^th Film Program Cannes

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Laurent Cantent's "The Class" Wins the Palme d'Or
A film from France won the top award and pairs of films from Italy and Latin America were honored with top prizes as the 2008 Cannes Film Festival came to a close tonight. Laurent Cantet's "Entre Les Murs" ("The Class") won the Palme d'Or as a jury lead by Sean Penn presented the awards. The best director honor went to Nuri Bilge Ceylan for "Three Monkeys," while Jean Pierre Dardenne & Luc Dardenne received the award for best screenplay for "Le Silence de Lorna." Two competition films from Italy were among the big winners: "Gomorra," directed by Matteo Garrone won the grand prix runner-up prize and the festival's jury prize went to "Il Divo," directed by Paolo Sorrentino.CANNES '08 | "Tulpan" Wins Un Certain Regard Prize
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Sergey Dvortsevoy's "Tulpan" won the Prize of Un Certain Regard at the Cannes Film Festival tonight in France, while Kurosawa Kiyoshi's "Tokyo Sonata" won the jury prize. Other prize winners include Andreas Dresen's "Wolke 9" (Heat Throb Jury Prize), James Toback's "Tyson" (The Knockout of Un Certain Regard) and Jean-Stephane Sauvaire's "Johnny Mad Dog" (The Prize of Hope). The Un Certain Regard section presented 20 films that were judged by a jury lead by filmmaker Fatih Akin, who offered the statement, "Our mission was to attribute three prizes for Un Certain Regard, but considering the quality and richness of the offerings, and as a testimony of our great enthusiasm, the jury requested of the festival permission to recognize two more films with honors."
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Just Like the Weather, Biz Prospects Mostly Cloudy On Fest's Final Weekend
Perhaps it's appropriate that the documentary "Roman Polanski: Wanted and Desired" received a special screening at this year's Cannes Film Festival, considering that its firm distribution deal really does seem like something special. During the latest Sundance Film Festival, "Wanted and Desired" became the first purchase after days of trepidation emanating from niche distributors -- an indicator of the dispiriting trend among buyers that continued into the Cannes Film Festival, although there was a slight burst of activity as the event comes to a close this weekend. The increasing difficulty to get American distributors interested is all the more evident now, with diagnoses for the problem spanning from broad cultural associations to specific issues popping up in the corners of the independent film landscape. With the dollar weak and alternative distribution venues on the rise, Cannes arrived like an intervention, bringing everyone under the same umbrella to figure out if they can come to terms with the problems at hand. So far, it looks like they're able, at the very least, to acknowledge them.
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Reminder to Film Program

Cannes attendees:
See you on the Red Carpet 2009.
Ralph Ackerman, Founder
and Director of the FPC.

Khan vs Can
How do you pronounce
'Cannes'? Khan is the
bad guy in the second Star
Trek movie.
Cannes is a city
in the south of France,
famous for
its film festival.
Cannes is pronounced
can as in "can of beer".

Khan vs Can
How do you pronounce
'Cannes'?
Khan is the
bad guy in the second
Star Trek movie.

Cannes is a city
in the south of France,
famous for
its film festival.
Cannes is pronounced
can as in "can of beer".

Palais m palace
Center of the Festival/Market

FPC Campus and the Palais Map