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The American Pavilion has announced the 2025 Emerging Filmmaker Showcase at Cannes, sponsored once again by Gold House. AmPav is the epicenter for American hospitality on the Croisette, bringing U.S. filmmakers together at the world’s most influential film festival. Ryan Coogler and Jeff Nichols are alums of the American Pavilion’s Cannes student program.

Will a filmmaker at the 2025 showcase follow in their footsteps? This year’s lineup features 25 official selection films in three showcases: Student Short Films & Documentaries, Emerging Filmmaker Short Films & Documentaries, and the Emerging Filmmaker LGBTQ+ showcase films. Check out the full lineup below.

Films will screen at The American Pavilion on Tuesday, May 20 (LGBTQ+ Showcase) and Wednesday, May 21 (Student and Emerging Showcase).

Emerging showcase category winners will be chosen by a jury that includes agents, managers, producers, industry members, and a team from Gold House, the leading cultural nonprofit that brings together and invests in Asian Pacific creators and companies.

Fifteen Indigenous and culturally and linguistically diverse (Cald) practitioners are set to participate in Cinespace Inc’s Package to Pitch program, an online masterclass on pitching into the market.

Selected by a culturally diverse panel, they include: Amal Awad, Alan Nguyen, Ana Tiwary, Orson Dijle, Serah Nathan, Karl Fernando, Eliza Matengu, Vonne Patiag, Theresa Gunarso, Jeremy Nguyen, Divya Vaman, Kim Ho, Michelle Ny, Sam Calafiore and Eva Justine Torkkola. Each has a pilot TV script they’re ready to pitch.

The program, supported via the Screenrights Cultural Fund, has been designed and facilitated by filmmaker John Kassab to help bridge the gap between outstanding emerging diverse creatives and the broader industry.

To be held online in February and March, the program will feature talks with a range of industry heavy hitters including Tony Ayres, Laura Waters, Michael McMahon, Donna Chang, Robert Connolly, Rachel Okine, Genevieve Chang, Ian Collie, Katherine Slattery,...

The Rehearsal is a youthful melodrama that becomes a bit too “mellow” during its elongated midsection of teenage irresponsibility. A soul-searching beginning and an applause-worth end sandwich a hefty helping of chewy, overdone archetypes reminiscent of every passable coming-of-age tale you’ve ever sat through. Filmmaker Alison Maclean does certain justice to Eleanor Catton’s source novelization, but it’s not exactly the poignant theater-culture showstopper that’d halt talent agents in their tracks. Familiarity and dry plotting by way of bad decisions are Maclean’s worst enemies, yet those more tolerant viewers should have no trouble sticking around for a rousing final act. The kids aren’t alright – but is anyone, really?

James Rolleston stars as Stanley, an aspiring actor who’s just beginning his first-year of specialty schooling. On a bus one day, he meets Isolde (Ella Edward), and they begin “dating.” Isolde is the sister of a...

"So what happens here? And what can you do to minimize the damage?" The first trailer has arrived for a film playing at this year's Toronto Film Festival (Tiff) called The Rehearsal, from Canadian director Alison Maclean. It's a complex drama about a first-year acting student who "mines his girlfriend's family scandal as material for the end-of-year show at drama school." Yeah, that sounds a bit crazy, but this looks damn good. James Rolleston stars, along with Ella Edward, Alice Englert, Kerry Fox and Michelle Ny. I am expecting some exceptional performances from a film about acting, and from what I can tell, there will be plenty. The song featured in this is "Fragile" (McHncl Remix) by Maya Payne & Kabyn Walley. See below. Here's the first official trailer (+ poster) for Alison Maclean's The Rehearsal, direct from YouTube: Alison Maclean returns to her New Zealand filmmaking roots with a multilayered...