Director Sébastien Lifshitz has chosen, along with the jury over which he has presided, among more than 140 candidates, the six new Cinéfondation Residence winners.
This 15th session of the Residence will open its doors to four female directors and two male directors, and will accompany them in the scripting of their first or second feature film until February 15th, 2008, and then assist with the actual preparations of their films.

- Emily ATEF (Iranian, age 34), with her 2nd feature-film project, Kill Me, follows the adventures of a teenager, Marie, and a 39-year-old prison escapee on the run, Timo, whom she accepts to help, providing he kills her when he's finally safe.

- Xiaolu GUO (Chinese, age 34) whose 2nd feature film, UFO in Her Eyes, depicts the story of a young Chinese woman whom no-one wants to marry in her village, but whose very life suddenly changes over night after she spots a UFO…

- Pia MARAIS (Swedish, age 36) spins in her 2nd feature film The Unpolished, the story of Ellen (49 years old) whose emotional benchmarks all at once collapse and who finally experiences, despite the feeling of emptiness, an astonishing event.

- Hagar BEN ASHER (Israeli, age 28), for his 1st feature film, Tama, focuses on the day-to-day life of a woman of very free morals who seeks a respectable father for her two 8- and 12-year-old daughters.

- Ruben IMAZ CASTRO (Mexican, age 27) takes up in his 2nd feature film, The Tourists, the theme of search for inspiration in two painters, the first, a Spanish man, and the second, a young Mexican woman.

- Barnwell ELLIOTT (American, age 33) in his 1st feature film, Bound, explores the themes of hope, racism and conscience, through three stories whose characters intercross.

Since its creation, in 2000, the Cinéfondation Residence has welcomed more than eighty directors and "given birth" to some fifty films.
In 2007, numerous international festivals have invited films stemming from the Residence: Berlin and Toronto for Corroboree by Ben Hackworth (Australia); Rio de Janeiro and São Paulo for Love for Sale (aka Suely in the Sky) by Karim Ainouz (Brazil); Warsaw, Tokyo and Seoul for Soo-ah by Kim Hee Jung (Korea); Cannes for Solitary Fragments by Jaime Rosales (Spain) and XXY by Lucía Puenzo (Argentina); Cannes, Toronto and New York for Eat, for This Is My Body by Michelange Quay (Haiti); and Cannes and Toronto for Caramel, by Nadine Labaki (Lebanon).

> More information: www.cinefondation.com