La Femis

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La Fémis, is the French State Film school based in Paris, has come to be a prestigious reference, providing an excellent level of training (36 students are selected each year among 1500 candidates), based on high standards regarding films, permanent transversal collaboration between the various departments and, more generally, courses balanced between artistic research, professional development and technical training. Over the years, La Fémis students made over 2000 short films, fictions and documentaries. Often more than mere exercises, some of these films are genuine works containing the seeds of new talents, which have been selected and rewarded at many film festivals.

1 History
2 Curriculum
3 Alumni
4 External Links

[edit] History

From 1944 to 1985, the Idhec (Institut des hautes études cinématographiques) trained forty-one classes and 1439 French and foreign film professionals - among them Louis Malle, Alain Resnais, Theo Angelopoulos, Arnaud Desplechin, Claude Sautet, Volker Schlöndorff, Claire Denis, Andrzej Żuławski, Christophe Gans, Eric Rochant, Alain Corneau, Costa Gavras, Patrice Leconte, Johan van der Keuken, Claude Miller, André Téchiné, Paulo Rocha, Robert Enrico, Jean-Jacques Annaud, Eric Rochant, Yves Boisset, Alain Cavalier, Henri Colpi, and Pascale Ferran. In 1985, the school was retructured under the supervision of the then Minister of Culture Jack Lang. This is how La Fémis was created in 1986, with the scriptwriting Jean-Claude Carrière as president and Jack Gajos as director.

When it was created, the school had seven teaching departments : direction, screenwriting, picture, sound, editing, production, and set. A script continuity course was added in 1992 then a distribution/exploitation course in 2003. Lastly the Masterclass workshop, a European production training program co-created with the Filmakademie Baden-Württemberg, Ludwigsburg, Germany in 2002.

The school is now a public establishment under the responsibility of the Ministry of culture and communication. The school first opened in the Palais de Tokyo (Paris 16e), moving on February 15, 1999 to the old Pathé Studios at 6, rue Francoeur (18e).

[edit] Curriculum

The main curriculum students follow a four-year training course. During the first year, they all follow the same general course : initiation in the various jobs involved in filmmaking, experimenting in every technical position within a film crew.

During the second and third year, they follow a specific curriculum according to the department they have chosen, including theoretical classes, exercises, days devoted to film analysis, analytical seminars and collective exercises making films. They spend their fourth year fulfilling an individual end-of-studies project (know as "travail de fin d'études" or TFE) and taking part in their classmates' projects.

[edit] Alumni

Since 1986, La Fémis has trained over 700 students in all filmmaking trades : directors, screenwriters, producers, editors, cameramen, sound engineers, decorators, script supervisors and distribution and exploitation managers.

Among them : (in alphabetical order)