“It’s surely one of the only places in France where we will see 800 people in a room to watch a Romanian film.” And Claude-Éric Poiroux, general founder of the Premiers plans festival, is very proud of it. Every year, since 1989, 100 young European directors come to Angers to present their first film. Arnaud Desplechin, Fatih Akin, Xavier Beauvois and, more recently, Jean-Baptiste Durand have been there, a sign that the festival is fulfilling its vocation: to reveal the filmmakers of tomorrow.
“We don’t care about having a world premiere,” declares Claude-Éric Poiroux bluntly, defending his programming. Some films have already been shown at other European festivals and that’s sometimes how we found them.” The issue is elsewhere. Every year, around a hundred films are selected from the 2,500 viewed by the festival team. More than a springboard, Premiers plans above all wishes to support, every year, these young filmmakers in their first project. “Of course, sometimes there are failures, films that are not liked. But what makes them strong is that there is always an element of truth in these first films. And often they please the public because they live in the same world,” says the festival boss.
The journey of Jean-Baptiste Durand is revealing in this regard. His screenplay for Dog from the Junkyard was included in the festival selection in 2021 in the Screenplay Reading category. In 2023, Durand returned with his film shot and competed in the European Feature Film category. He won the audience award. Four months later, he was at Cannes and won the Pierre-Chevalier prize for young filmmakers. Poiroux and his team have flair.
Young European directors can compete in seven categories: First and Second European Feature Films, Diagonales (free films in their form), First European Short Films, First French Short Films, European School Films, Animated Shots or Chenaplans (short films for an audience aged 3 to 12). Each category has its own evaluation committee.
Some members of the jury have also left their mark on the history of the festival. Claude-Éric Poiroux gratefully recalls the participation of Jeanne Moreau, president of the jury of Premiers plans in 2003. The actress who proclaimed “to love beginnings and beginners” then got involved in the Ateliers d’Angers whose objective is to allow five young directors to work together for a week to perfect their project. This year, Salvatore Lista (screenwriter, director), Marie-Ange Luciani (producer), Youna de Perreti (casting director), Camille Delafon (composer) and Adrien Bekerman (composer) will host the Ateliers d’Angers.
If the festival aims above all to bring out new talents, it also intends to make younger people understand that cinema is not just about Marvel superheroes and blockbusters. Middle and high school students from the region are invited to discover classics. “We think they’re missing something. The out-of-competition category “tributes and retrospectives” aims to introduce inspiring personalities from cinema and films that are part of our heritage.” This year, the festival will welcome actress Isabelle Huppert, who will present nine of her films. British director Ken Loach was also expected but was forced to cancel his appearance at the last moment for health reasons. Finally, a tribute will be paid this year to the actress and director Jane Birkin, who died in 2023, through the broadcast of three of her films.
To celebrate the year of the Paris Olympics, “Premiers plans gets into sport”. Raging Bull, Behind the Wall, California, Le Mans ’66 etc. In total, around twenty sports-themed films will be broadcast throughout the week. “Sport needs image and it’s a theme that has a lot in common with cinema: there are winners, losers, cheaters. There is also suspense,” says Claude-Éric Poiroux.
The suspense also concerns the sustainability of the festival. If “it is not intended to stop in the coming years”, assures its founder, the festival also faces a difficult economic reality. For the moment, the director is delighted to still be able to benefit from numerous financial supports such as that of the city of Angers which provides 450,000 euros in subsidies, from the CNC (100,000 euros), from the department. Premiers Plans has a total budget of nearly one million euros, of which 10 to 15% comes from private partners in the form of sponsorship. But how long will this support last? Claude-Éric Poiroux emphasizes that he has already been forced to shorten the event by one day to save money.
Several prices are offered: a full price of 8.50 euros per seat and a reduced rate of 6 euros per seat. The latter is aimed at people under the age of 18, people in wheelchairs, adults in civic service, job seekers, beneficiaries of RSA, partner card, senior students and people with disabilities. “At that price, you can go into a cinema and take a trip, I think it’s worth it,” he concludes.
For the founder and director of the festival – who is also CEO of the Les 400 Coups cinema in Angers and former director of the Europa Cinémas theater network – the history of Premiers plans is marked by certain films. Among his many favorites, he lists the most notable:
It is the first award-winning film in Angers. In the “European feature films” selection, the film received the audience prize, in the presence of Patricia Mazuy, Sandrine Bonnaire and Jean-François Stevenin.
The French director received two awards in the same year. A first for Life of the Dead, in the “European feature films” selection. And a second in the “screenplay reading” selection with La Sentinelle. The latter won the César for best first film in 1993.
In the “European feature films” selection, Turkish filmmaker Nuri Bilge Ceylan received the special jury prize with his film Kasaba. The film tells the story of two children who come into contact with the adult world in a small village in Turkey in the 1970s. It will receive the Palme d’Or at Cannes in 2014.
For his second film in the “European feature films” selection, Nuri Bilge Ceylan walks away this time with the feature film grand prize. It also won the Best Turkish Film award at the Istanbul International Film Festival in 2000.
The scenario was developed at the Ateliers d’Angers. The film was then selected at Cannes in 2018 in the “Un certain regard” selection where it received 4 awards (Caméra d’Or / FIPRESCI Prize / Queer Palm and Interpretation Prize for Victor Polster).
