Actualités

While we await the announcement of the 2015 Cinéfondation Selection, the 2014 prizewinners look back at the Festival and tell us what's been happening since the excitement of Cannes.

3 questions to Annie SILVERSTEIN

For her movie SKUNK

How did you live your award at the festival de Cannes 2014?

Winning the Cannes Cinéfondation competition was an incredible experience. To receive that kind of affirmation was very moving for all of us involved, especially given the incredible talent among all the filmmakers who screened their work. My favorite part of the experience was meeting the other Cinéfondation filmmakers, watching their films, and of course meeting Abbas Kiarostami and the entire jury. Dimitra Karya and everyone at Cinéfondation have created a very special atmosphere for emerging filmmakers. 

What did your award at Festival de Cannes bring up for you?

The Cinéfondation award opened a lot of doors for me, mainly by generating support around my first feature. After traveling to different festivals I returned to Austin and taught for a semester at the University of Texas, while developing and researching my next project. Then I was fortunate to receive the San Francisco Film Society/Kenneth Rainin Foundation Filmmaking Grant, so I’m currently in the Bay Area for four months writing the screenplay. The relationships I made through Cinéfondation have continued to grow. Just last week I had coffee with Atsuko Hirayanagi (2nd Prize Cinéfondation 2014 for Oh Lucy), who is now living in San Francisco and we’ve decided to meet regularly to read each other’s drafts and be writing buddies. I’m still in touch with several filmmakers from Cinéfondation 2014 and continue to meet filmmakers from previous years in my travels. It’s a great thing.

Have you new projects?

I’m working on two scripts. Both are set in Texas in a landscape similar to where we shot SKUNK but with different storylines. I’m in the midst of the writing process. I am not rushing through it, but rather I am in the process of digging, turning things over and digging some more. There is also a documentary I’m trying to complete about a street artist in Rio de Janeiro who became an international celebrity of sorts before his mysterious death. So I have several projects in the works. I’ve also recently started boxing. I’ve found it very helpful to do something so physical during the writing process. And it’s completely new to me so it’s like starting two journeys side by side. We’ll see which one leaves me more battered.