Cannes Critics’ Week has announced that Filipino filmmaker Arvin Belarmino’s Ria has been selected as one of the projects for the 11th edition of its feature development program, Next Step.
Ria follows the story of a folk-punk musician who enters the illegal porn industry to provide for her chronically ill foster mother. While this is Belarmino’s debut feature, the film has already gained international recognition, including the Centre National du Cinema (CNC) award at the 2022 Festival de Cannes Cinefondation La Residence selection’s Residence Pitch Session.
The film also participated in the 5th Tokyo Gap-Financing Market (TGFM) at the Tokyo International Film Festival’s (TIFF) affiliated market, TIFFCOM, last October.
Created 11 years ago, the Next Step program helps filmmakers develop their feature debut projects. Belarmino will join seven other filmmakers: Polish director Dawid Bodzak, French filmmaker Mathilde Chavanne, Mexican director Pablo Giles, Ethiopian director Beza Hailu Lemma, Brazilian director Valentina Homem, Portuguese director Isadora Neves Marques, and French director Guil Sela.
The program will be held from Dec. 8 to 13 in Paris and Normandy.
