COOPERATION WITH CANNES: FOCUS COPRO’

In 2025, HFF Munich started a cooperation with the exclusive industry initiative Focus COPRO’ of the Cannes Film Festival (as part of the Marché du Film).

Focus COPRO‘ (headed by Florian Fernandez, SFC) supports seven selected emerging filmmakers in the development of their first feature film. It is aimed at directors who were previously represented with their short films in the emerging talent sections of the Cannes Film Festival (or were selected by industry scouts) and are now working on their first major feature film. The program aims to link the early stages of the film projects with international co-production strategies. The selected filmmakers receive customized mentoring programs, participate in workshops (including in cooperation with EAVE and Eurimages), and gain access to a targeted networking event (Industry Lunch) with producers, distributors, and financiers.

HFF Munich (International Office) is one of three cooperation partners and awards the following prize: An invitation for one of the seven filmmakers to an HFF Summer School workshop in Munich.

Participants

2026

Sarra Ryma is an Algerian-French filmmaker based in Paris. Her work explores exile, queer identities, youth, and the tensions between intimacy and social norms. Her short film “À quoi rêvent les maknines” premiered in competition at the Semaine de la Critique of the Cannes Film Festival in 2026, where it received the Rail d’Or. She is currently developing her debut feature film “Algiers Haze”.

Summerschool-Project: Algiers Haze
In Hassi Messaoud, at the edge of the Algerian desert, Rayane, 18, dreams of leaving. Ahmed dreams of staying. Through a tender and unspoken bond, they share one last summer together, caught between desire and silence, before the roads ahead pull them apart. A story about the fragile moment that precedes exile, when love, friendship and belonging remain unresolved possibilities.

2025

Kyla Romero is an award-winning Filipina writer and filmmaker with a degree in Psychology. In her works, which began as stage plays, she often explores themes of womanhood and coming of age. Her greatest international and national successes include the award-winning feature film project “Ria” (CNC Pitch Award, Festival de Cannes La Résidence 2022), as well as the highly acclaimed short films “Dosena” (including a FAMAS nomination) and “Hinakdal” (Best Screenplay, Cinemalaya Film Festival 2023).

Summerschool-Project: Giliw (Beloved)
As a small town enters a new year, a girl reconnects with the ghost of her dead father through a clairvoyant dancer. They search for the father’s lost remains in the midst of the ongoing wreckage of the town’s old cemetery, and the inevitable erasure of the town’s past.