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Innovative minds think alike – they value more about meeting people who share the same beliefs, rather than fixing on getting proper protegee. To discover new directors and traverse the narrow path of exploring new film languages, the Cannes Directors' Fortnight began their journey over 50 years ahead of Eye Catcher, and they have always been true to its original mission: to nurture creatives with ground breaking insights. This year, we are honoured to have Julien Rejl, the Artistic Director of Cannes Directors' Fortnight, for his participation at ECG during his first visit to Hong Kong.

Taking on the helm of the Directors' Fortnight in 2022, Julien will share with us his view on the importance of the "future" – how does a director visualise the futuristic nature in their works? What makes creatives from Asia stand out? In addition to attending the talk and chairing the jury for the Asian New Directors Award, Julien has also selected four short film candidates from the Cannes Directors' Fortnight 2023 for a screening: The House is on Fire, Might as Well Get Warm, a North African road movie pondering death and exile; The Birthday Party, a revisit to the Y2K scare through the lens of teenage angst; A Storm Inside, which focuses on the lives of teenagers in the suburbs of France; and I Saw the Face of the Devil, a young girl believes herself is possessed because of her homosexual tendencies, leading her to entrust a local priest for an exorcism – get ready to be thrilled, and truly disturbed.

Programme Schedule

Programme Details

Showcase 1 (103 mins)

23.6.2024 (Sunday) | 3:00pm* With after-screening talk

The House is on Fire, Might as Well Get Warm
Dir.: Mouloud Aït Liotna
2023 | 43' | France | In Kabyle with English subtitles

Clermont-Ferrand International Short Film Festival
IndieLisboa International Independent Film Festival  

Yanis, a young Kabyl man, is leaving for Paris the following day. He goes to the nearby village to tie up loose ends. There he learns of the death of a childhood friend and meets another at the funeral. A mishap turns his last day in the backwaters of an earthy and soggy Algeria into a road movie, first desperate, then thoughtful and melancholic.

Talk
【In-depth Talk with Julien Rejl: Why do we need to be future-oriented?】

Guest: Julien Rejl (Artistic Director, Directors' Fortnight)
Moderator: Kiki Fung (Film Critic & Programmer)
Conducted in English 

About the Speaker - Julien Rejl

Rejl has joined as the Artistic Director of the Directors' Fortnight since June 2022. Prior to this appointment, he was in charge of distribution, acquisitions and international sales at Capricci from 2010 to 2020. He has worked with filmmakers such as Abel Ferrara, Hong Sangsoo, Albert Serra, Wang Bing, Tsai Ming-Liang, Philippe Garrel, Monte Hellman, Corneliu Porumboiu, Jean-Charles Hue, and has distributed the first films of various new directors. He has also orchestrated the theatrical release of restored masterpieces by Jean-Luc Godard, Kenji Mizoguchi, Jean-Marie Straub and Danièle Huillet, Ingmar Bergman, Maurice Pialat, David Lynch and David Cronenberg. Rejl also serves as a critic for Sofilm, and was the programmer and artistic director of the festival created by the cinema magazine between 2015 and 2019.

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Showcase 2 (77 mins)

23.6.2024 (Sunday) | 5:45pm

A Storm Inside
Dir.: Clément Pérot
2023 | 24' | France | In French with English subtitles

DMZ International Documentary Film Festival
Clermont-Ferrand International Short Film Festival  

The documentary encapsulates an afternoon at the end of summer in the outskirts of Calais in the north of France. Children and teenagers hanging out in between the low-income housing units and waste grounds. The camera captures them in silence, their facial expressions often look a bit worried and depressed, and exploring their youth and their relationship with the world.

I Saw the Face of the Devil
Dir.: Julia Kowalski
2023 | 36' | France | In Polish with English subtitles

Cannes Film Festival: Queer Palm (Short Film) Nomination
Clermont-Ferrand International Short Film Festival: Grand Prix (National Competition)

In a small town in northern Poland, 18-year-old Majka is convinced that she is possessed as she falls for a girl. She decides to seek help from a local priest to expel the demon, and the exorcism sessions are as staggering as the iconic film, William Friedkin's The Exorcist. Originally conceived as a documentary project, the fiction short questions the power of imagination and belief through a mystical emancipatory quest of a young soul.

The Birthday Party
Dir.: Francesco Sossai
2023 | 17' | Germany, France, Italy | In Italian with English subtitles

Busan International Short Film Festival: Best International Short Film
Curtas Vila do Conde International Short Film Festival: Best European Short Film and International Competition Great Prize

Italy in December 1999. A father drives his son to a friend's birthday party at a remote farmhouse. The child is anxious about wide-spread talk of the so-called "Y2K bug", but it is the party itself that ends up malfunctioning when the disturbing details of the family comes to light. The director took a memory from his childhood and created a giallo.