Tatino Encounters | Florian Fernandez

tatinofilmsweb
Aug 4
7 min read

Helping promising filmmakers learning the ropes of the feature film world

Florian Fernandez | Head of Short Film Corner | Rendez-vous Industry at the Festival de Cannes

Florian Fernandez oversees industry initiatives developed for the Short Film Corner | Rendez-vous Industry at the Festival de Cannes. This program champions short films and emerging talent, while fostering connections between filmmakers and

industry professionals. Among its key segments is Focus COPRO', a platform that has partnered with the Pop Up Film Residency since 2019.

Before Short Film Corner, how did you fall in love with the world of cinema?

I started studying cinema while I was still in high school, it was one of my main subjects at that time. Then I pursued cinema on a very theoretical yet particularly enriching approach during my bachelor's degree in literature & arts before fully specializing in Film Studies for my master's degree. My studies were essentially centered on the history and aesthetics of cinema, and involved writing numerous theoretical and critical essays, which gave me a very broad vision of cinematographic works, both classic and more contemporary, touching on a wide range of social, political, human or simply aesthetic issues.

"I started studying cinema in high school, then pursued it through a more theoretical lens during my literature and arts studies, before specializing in Film Studies for my master’s. What really drew me in was the desire to support or highlight authors' visions."

I have always been more drawn into music than cinema, but Film Studies really nurtured my curiosity and thirst for various visions of the world. I also quickly wanted to be involved in a more concrete way and explore the cinema field as a work, supporting or highlighting the author's visions. This led me to work for a transdisciplinary cultural center during my studies, where I had the chance to follow and take part in the set-up of a global retrospective on the work of one of the dearest artists to my heart, Agnès Varda, and to accompany her for a few days.

I naturally got closer to event coordination, through festivals, and did my end-of-studies internship at the Festival de Cannes, working already as part of the Short Film Corner team. It was then that I really got to grips with the power of the short film format, and as time went by, I became very attached to it.

UN PEU DE VARDA À VALENCE, a retrospective dedicated to Agnès Varda

What drew you more to the managing and coordinating side of things?

Very practical reasons I’d say. I always liked to coordinate things, organize and put effort in building events and spaces where interactions can happen and grow. Getting to know more and more all the people in this industry where you can easily navigate, forge bonds and create collaborations has been also a very pleasing and enriching process. And what I enjoyed the most year after year, and still right now, is trying to be a matchmaker and find the best connections possible to put in touch with the filmmakers with professionals who can support them.

One of the exciting things is also to try to adapt and renew every year, and explore new ways of supporting short film voices, while solidifying what’s already in place in terms of programs and events to keep it relevant.

Florian Fernandez in Cannes with Elena Diesbach and Matthieu Darras, co-directors of MunichFilmUp!

Why are short films close to your heart?

The short film format is particularly dear to me as it has this freedom and also this kind of immediacy. It can move you or immerse you in a very specific universe in a very condensed time. Above all, I also particularly like to be at the first steps of a filmmaker’s journey, discover voices and visions that are already impactful, inventive, sincere, and that will grow.

Short films are also the place for hybridity, to foster new ways of storytelling or approaching a topic. Being a documentary lover, I feel the short film format can push this genre to a next level whether it is visually or by the way it captures life with bolder intentions.

On an industry level, if I’m still working on the short film field or with filmmakers at their first steps on the feature film world, maybe it’s because I’m also more interested in an industry where money / financing has less impact and where we can focus on the artistic process and deep intentions in a smoother setting.

"Short films are close to my heart because of their freedom, immediacy and capacity to immerse you in a unique world within minutes. I love being at the first steps of a filmmaker’s journey and discovering voices that are bold, sincere and inventive. The format encourages hybridity and experimentation and allows us to focus on artistic intention without the pressure of heavy financing."

From your perspective of a distributor/ sales, what is the potential of short films nowadays and in the near future?

Short films will always remain as an accessible, immediate format that anyone can connect with in a restricted timeframe. As I already said, it will remain a space for freedom, personal exploration and experimentation, exploring topics and ideas capable of moving anyone.

The distribution of short films is first and foremost made through festivals, and it's vital to preserve these spaces – sometimes endangered by a lack of funding or political decisions – as the one capable of making this very specific format accessible. Whether it is to a professional and initiated audience, or to anyone who doesn't necessarily know about the format and show them that cinema is not only the feature films you can watch in the cinema or on TV.

It's hard to say to what extent the short film industry will evolve, but with the rarefaction of buyers, and broadcasting spaces which have other ambitions, I think it would be invaluable to make short films even more easily accessible beyond the festival circuit.

What’s currently the most exciting thing regarding short films in your opinion?

What’s the most exciting is to discover the short film you haven’t discovered yet, and the filmmaker behind it. Being ready to be curious at all times and to exchange with new voices and accompany them in expressing what really moves them deep inside. Stay updated of what’s in the making and coming, meet new visions and be ready to embrace them.

In what ways do you see Pop Up Film Residency being an integral part of the Focus COPRO' at Festival de Cannes?

We started this collaboration in 2019, quite close to the launching of the Focus COPRO’ in 2018, our program supporting first feature film projects at an early stage of work. While deeply reshaping the Short Film Corner | Rendez-vous Industry in the Festival de Cannes, we felt important to support filmmakers making the leap from short to feature.

The Pop Up Film Residency was immediately a key support to provide to these promising projects and their makers a real added-value and allow them to pursue, in a very concrete way, the writing and then focus on the artistic process after attending an industry event and learning the ropes of the feature film world.

It also perfectly aligned with our wishes of being more and more in a personalized and tailor-made approach when accompanying filmmakers and the development or their upcoming films, or the distribution of their current ones.

We cannot be prouder of this collaboration, and it helped a very wide range of project visions to grow, and created key connections and collaborations, until the release of these first features on the circuit.

"Focus COPRO’ was created to support early-stage first feature projects and its partnership with the Pop Up Film Residency has brought invaluable support by offering selected filmmakers a concrete opportunity to continue writing and developing their films."

Since its launch, Pop Up Film Residency has welcomed promising projects such as Carlota Pereda’s PIGGY (premiered at Sundance), or Thomas Woodroffe’s ERRATICS (Eurimages New Lab: Outreach Award at CineMart’s IFFR) among others. This year Dian Weys’ BERGIES has taken part in a 3-week residency in Bratislava. The filmmaker was selected in the Festival de Cannes’ Short Film Competition this year.

From left to right: PIGGY by Carlota Pereda, ERRACTICS by Thomas Woodroffe and BERGIES, Dian Wey's upcoming first feature film

This year, among our supporting institutions, we welcomed for the time being HFF München who is offered a participation in its Summerschool - Women Writing Lab to one of the selected projects. It goes hand in hand with the film school’s initiative MunichFilmUp! that is also supporting emerging filmmakers with a first feature projects and wrapping its journey in Cannes with one-on-one industry meetings and an award ceremony we hosted during the festival as part of the SFC | Rendez-vous Industry.

Florian grew up in Isère, in the south-east of France

Sitting on many chairs, how do you balance demanding work challenges like the Festival de Cannes with private life and mental health?

Coming from a family with parents on very modest wages and who had worked 40 years of their lives, I always told myself that my free time would also be my salary and reward. And I repeated this to myself recently as you can easily drown into too many projects or travels, which was probably the case for me recently.

I've always tried not to consider my work as a priority or what feeds me on a human or mental level in the first place. It is not always easy when you are building an event from A to Z every year or when you are attached to people you collaborate with or support the work in thinking about the best way to do this and try to build the best connections to help them. But I tried to be surrounded as much as I can with people I care about on a human level when it comes to work. However, setting yourself and your team a decent hour to leave the office every day when you work in the office is an absolute priority, so that we don't forget how important it is to return to the comfort of our private spheres. And that has always been extremely beneficial, on a personal and professional level!

Growing up in a tiny village of the South-East countryside in France, I’m also lucky enough to be able to disconnect from the city sometimes and head back in a little nice bubble. Additionally, having way too many different passions definitely help – from going to concerts and playing music, to making pastries, cooking, playing tennis tournaments, being obsessed with sports in general, and much more. I try to forget about the film industry as much as I can during that part of the year to preserve my mental health, and especially in Summer for obvious D-Vitamin reasons.