Directors' Factory Ceará-Brasil 2025

The Factory aims at the emergence of new talents on the international scene, allowing young local and international filmmakers couples to meet and create together. For its 10th edition, Directors’ Factory arrives in Brazil with full force as a celebration of its essence, the power of collective creation. 

After Taiwan, Denmark and Finland, Chile, South Africa, Lebanon, Tunisia, Sarajevo, Northern Portugal, and the Philippines, Directors' Fortnight, Janaina Bernardes (Cinema Inflamável) and Dominique Welinski (DW) join forces to continue the adventure with Directors' Factory Ceará Brazil. For this milestone edition in the context of the Brazil-France Cultural crossed Season, under the patronage of Karim Aïnouz, this Factory, entirely filmed and finalized in Fortaleza, is supported by the Government of Ceará through the Secretariat of Culture, represented by Instituto Mirante and Instituto Dragão do Mar, in partnership with Projeto Paradiso and our new French partner Titrafilm.

We are proud to present, within the framework of the Directors’ Fortnight, the fruit of these exchanges: four short films co-written and co-directed by four pairs of young filmmakers from the North and Northeast of Brazil, Cuba, Portugal, Israel, and France. The films will be screened at the Théâtre Croisette on Wednesday, May 14, the opening day of the 57th edition of the Directors' Fortnight.

THE PAIRS 2025 : 

• BERNARDO ABINADER (Brazil, Amazonas) & SHARON HAKIM (France / Egypt)
• STELLA CARNEIRO (Brazil, Alagoas) & ARY ZARA (Portugal)
• LUCIANA VIEIRA (Brazil, Ceará) & MARCEL BELTRÁN (Cuba) 
• WARA (Brazil, Ceará) & SIVAN NOAM SHIMON (Israel) 

It's a wrap for Directors' Factory Ceará Brasil in Fortaleza

Principal photography for the 10th edition of Directors' Factory just wrapped on March 29, in Fortaleza, Brazil with Karim Aïnouz serving as a godfather.
The four short films were shot back-to-back in the following order:

- Ponto Cego by Luciana Vieira (Brazil) Marcel Beltrán (Cuba)
- A vaqueira, a dançarina e o porco by Stella Carneiro (Brazil) and Ary Zara (Portugal)
- Como ler o vento by Bernardo Ale Abinader (Brazil) and Sharon Hakim (France)
- A Fera do Mangue by Wara (Brazil) and Sivan Noam Shimon (Israel)

The program will premiere at Theatre Croisette in Cannes on Wednesday May 14, the day of the opening of the 57th edition of Directors' Fortnight.

The program is co-produced by Janaina Bernardes (Cinema Inflamável, Brazil) and Dominique Welinski (DW, France), founder and curator of the program, in partnership with the Government of Ceará through the Secretariat of Culture of Ceará, represented by Instituto Mirante and Instituto Dragão do Mar and with the support of Projeto Paradiso on the Brazilian side and TitraFillm on the French one.

The Directors’ Factory project

Directors’ Fortnight wishes to encourage new cinematographic languages and forms. 

Since 2013, under the umbrella of Directors’ Fortnight, the Factory aims at the emergence of new talents on the international scene. Each year, with the support of a new partner country, the Factory mentors 8 budding filmmakers with ambitious first or second feature projects to co-write and co-direct, in pairs, a total of 4 short films to be screened at the Fortnight in May.

Directors’ Factory 2025: Ceará-Brasil in the spotlight

In 2025, ten years after Chile, Directors' Factory is more than happy to head back to Latin America, specifically to Ceará, in the Northeast of Brasil. 

Following a call for applications in July for filmmakers from North and Northeast of Brasil, we received over 60 applications. Directors' Fortnight and the Factory team, together with a local jury composed by Claudia Gonçalves (producer) and Carlos Segundo (filmmaker), are more than proud to announce the 4 pairs who will co-write and co-direct a 15min short film.