The American Pavilion has selected 200 film students, 40 percent more than in previous years, to participate in the 2013 American Pavilion Worldwide Student Filmmaker Program at the Cannes Film Festival, Michael Bremer, AmPav’s new director of student programs, announced today.
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The students, who come from North America, Asia and Europe, will work at the American Pavilion, which is celebrating its 25th anniversary, as well as other companies such as studios and talent agencies during the course of the festival, which runs from May 15-26 as part of a work-study program. They will also attend panels, seminars and festival screenings.
“In this historic year for the Pavilion, I am proud to join the team as director of student programs, attracting new talent from a wider international stage, not just North America,” said Bremer, who also will oversee the Pavilion’s hospitality and event management, MBA, L.A. Intensive, and Venice Intensive programs. “I am excited to discover new pockets of American talent from places as diverse as Oregon and Oklahoma. It was in North Carolina, for example, that we found rising star director Jeff Nichols (Mud), who has acknowledged in interviews the accelerated trajectory of his career following his college internship with The American Pavilion.”
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Bremer, who comes from Warner Bros. International TV Distribution, where he worked since 2007, has been attending Cannes since 1987 as a seller, buyer and independent producer. He has expanded AmPav’s outreach to international schools via an unofficial alliance with CILECT, the International Association of Film and Television Schools. He is also developing plans for an immersive film study experience in Cuba and an Asian outpost in Hong Kong.
Past alumni of AmPav’s student program have gone on to work at such companies as The Weinstein Company, DreamWorks, Paramount, The William Morris Agency, Sony, Industry Entertainment, ICM, 20th Century Fox, Universal and The Walt Disney Company. They include Nichols, director Morgan J. Freeman, actress Alexa Alemanni and producer Ron Najor.
