07/17/2026
The filmmakers who will participate in the Cannes Film Festival‘s Critics’ Week’s Next Step Studio program, which will focus on Armenia, were named during the GAIFF Pro Industry Awards Ceremony on July 16, where Armenian Film Society was present.
The four filmmakers included in the program are Armik Israyelyan, Raffi Movsisyan, Sona Khachatryan, and Naira Sargsyan.
Next Step Studio is a filmmaker incubator program by the Cannes Film Festival’s Critics’ Week (La Semaine de la Critique) designed to support emerging international directors. The initiative brings together emerging directors (four from the host country and four international) to co-write and co-direct four short films.
The Armenian directors will be paired with an international filmmaker. The films will be shot in Yerevan, Armenia in March 2027, filmed in the Armenian language, and produced with a fully Armenian cast and crew. The completed films will premiere at Critics’ Week at the Cannes Film Festival in May 2027. They will be supported by the Ministry of Education, Science, Culture and Sports of the Republic of Armenia.
Armik Israyelyan studied at the American University of Armenia and the KinoEyes European Film Masters program, whose short film THE LIST won Best Short Film at the Unica Annual Film Festival. Raffi Movsisyan is a filmmaker and film scholar whose debut short film, HOMECOMING, premiered in competition at the Krakow International Film Festival. Sona Khachatryan’s documentary and narrative work has screened internationally, and she is currently developing her debut feature film, PROCESS. Naira Sargsyan is a filmmaker and film scholar whose credits include GENERAL CLEANING and THE ETERNAL RED.
Next Step Studio received 25 submissions for its program. 12 filmmakers made the shortlist and were interviewed on July 16 at the House of Cinema in Yerevan by a selection committee composed of Juliette Canon, Short Film Coordinator and Next Step Coordinator at Critics’ Week, French producer Dominique Welinski, and Armenian producer Artyom Baghdasaryan.
The filmmaker pairings will be announced at the Sarajevo Film Festival on August 19.
