Directors' Fortnight
Directors' Fortnight highlights independent films from throughout the world, a free-spirited, non-competitive selection open to non-professional festivalgoers.
Directors' Fortnight Dates: [node:field_dates:start_date:medium] - [node:field_dates:end_date:medium] in Cannes
The section was established in 1969 and is organized by the Société des Réalisateurs de Films (Society of Filmmakers).
The Directors' Fortnight features a selection of feature films, short films, and documentary films, with a focus on works that are unconventional, daring, and outside the mainstream.
The section provides a platform for filmmakers to showcase their work and build recognition, as well as opportunities for industry professionals and audiences to discover new talent.
Directors' Fortnight Awards
Like the main festival, the Directors' Fortnight also presents several awards to recognize the best films and performances.
- Art Cinema Award: An award presented to the best feature film in the Directors' Fortnight.
- SACD Award: An award recognizing the best script in a feature film in the Directors' Fortnight.
- Europa Cinemas Label Award: An award given to a feature film in the Directors' Fortnight to support its distribution and promotion in European cinemas.
- Illy Prize for Short Films: An award recognizing the best short film in the Directors' Fortnight.
Directors Fortnight Accreditation
Directors' Fortnight showcases films without genre, format, duration, or origin.
Who can apply for Directors' Fortnight?
The applicant must be a current Directors' Fortnight director/crew member, sponsor, distributor, or producer. The applicant may be involved with art and culture or the press.
I'm Cannes Film Festival-accredited. Should I apply for Directors' Fortnight?
If you have a Cannes Film Festival, Film Market, or press pass, you don't need a Directors' Fortnight pass. All these accreditations allow access to screenings at the Theatre Croisette (JW.Marriott) and the Arcades cinema.
My film is in Cannes and/or Critic's Week. Should I register for Fortnight?
If you want your film shown at Fortnight, register on our website. The Cannes Film Festival (Competition, Out of Competition, Un Certain Regard) and Critics'Week have separate selection processes.
Attend Directors' Fortnight
The Fortnight is the only section in Cannes to open its doors to the wider public through a subscription basis and specific screenings’ ticket sales.
For the whole duration of the festival, the Fortnight’s Office is relocated at the Malmaison, a former mansion on the Croisette, situated right beside the JW Marriott Hotel.
Carosse d'Or Ceremony
The Fortnight has hosted the Carrosse d'Or ceremony since 2002. This SRF prize honors a filmmaker whose daring, demanding, and uncompromising work changed cinema history. Nanni Moretti, Martin Scorsese, Ousmane Sembene, Jia Zhangke, Naomi Kawase, David Cronenberg, Agnès Varda, Jane Campion, and John Carpenter.
The Team
A passionate team selects and presents these films to an enthusiastic audience.
Since 1969, the Directors' Fortnight has enriched the Cannes Film Festival by expanding its subject matter and cinematic practices.
Werner Herzog, Rainer Werner Fassbinder, Nagisa Oshima, George Lucas, Martin Scorsese, Chantal Akerman, Djibril Diop Mambéty, Jim Jarmusch, Michael Haneke, Spike Lee, Naomi Kawase, Jean-Pierre and Luc Dardenne, Sofia Coppola, and more recently Albert Serra, Clive Baudelaire, Clio Barnard, Lisa Cholodenko,
History
Late 1960s and early 1970s saw social, political, and cultural upheaval. Since its creation, the Fortnight has reflected these changes and presented reimagined cinema. In Brazil, Italy, the U.S., Canada, Japan, Germany, Hungary, Czechoslovakia, Poland, Senegal, Egypt filmmakers explored new forms.
The Fortnight became the place where "Cinéma en liberté" (the name of the first Fortnight in 1969) was freely expressed.
Its openness to the public proved that personal and visionary auteur cinema, often marginalized by commercial structures and official organizations, could have a popular resonance, revealing its commercial potential in the film industry.
The Fortnight has supported artistic and commercial innovation in film for over 50 years.
Pierre-Henri Deleau, co-founder and general delegate of Directors' Fortnight from 1969 to 1998, said, "The first edition was launched in total euphoria, organized within impossible deadlines, and carried out amidst general skepticism." It survived its chaotic baptism, leaving the impression that it was relevant, audacious, surprising, and on time in Cannes.
The Fortnight remains a space teeming with new visions and in dialogue with the contemporary world.