Dropbox and the Cannes Film Festival
Roll out the red carpet – the 70th Cannes Film Festival, one of the industry’s most famous and iconic events, is underway.
With this year’s event boasting the first ever films produced by Netflix and Amazon to make selection for the main competition, we couldn’t be more proud to see Yanillys Perez, winner of the Dropbox Discovery Award, take centre stage too.
Yanillys has been invited to pitch her latest project as part of the Cannes Festival L’Atelier, a high-profile scheme launched in 2005 for emerging filmmakers, introducing them to potential co-producers and film backers during the festival.
“Candy Town” holds the honour of being the very first Dominican Republic production to reach L’ Atelier. It’s a script that looks to portray the story of a group of four young girls seeking fame and celebrity stardom, not unlike the Kardashians. The problem is, they don’t have the opportunities they need to realise their dream, so they turn to crime to help fund the lifestyle they crave.
Yanillys says, “I sent my first draft of “Candy Town” to L’Atelier and they liked it. They took into account the other work I’ve produced too, so the Dropbox award definitely helped get me to this point. I’m excited because film making is all about collaborating with the right people and I’ll get a chance to meet some of the best.”
Collaboration is key for Yanillys, it’s something she relies heavily on for her filmmaking. For “Jeffrey”, the movie that earned her the Dropbox Discovery Award at the Toronto Film Festival, she shot in the Dominican Republic but completed post-production in France. She was able to use Messaging Applications, and collaboration tools to stay in contact with the subject of her film while small, agile cameras helped create an intimate portrayal of life on the island.
She told us, “I use Dropbox as a central resource to keep all production assets together and safe. Most importantly my draft scripts are saved in Dropbox, and I’m also using shared folders for sending out marketing assets and film clips.”
According to Yanillys striking a creative balance between documentary-style filmmaking and more cinematic, narrative shots is part of her authentic style as an emerging filmmaker. After the success of ‘Jeffrey’ Yanillys is excited to step up the production scale and storytelling in ‘Candy Town’ – so she’s looking to Cannes L’Atelier to help her find just the right creative collaborators.
“I’m looking for the right people so it’s important to me that we share the same view. I need a co-producer who is going to be on the same page and therefore give me the freedom I need to make the film. It’s really important to meet in person at this stage, and to know the producer’s previous work, so we can find a common language, and Cannes Film Festival is an incredible opportunity to do just that.
Moving forward, however, I know with the right team we can be based anywhere; the characters are from the Dominican Republic but I believe bringing different perspectives together in co-productions only enriches the final result. And I’m excited to have Dropbox Business to help us stay on the same page.”
To find out more about how Yanillys progresses at Cannes Film Festival, you can follow updates on her Facebook and Twitter. Also, stay tuned to hear more great stories about how Dropbox is helping to break down barriers for production companies as we sponsor Sundance Film Festival in London in June.
