About

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The CFP-E (Commercial Film Producers of Europe), whose goal is to promote the added value that production companies bring to agencies and advertisers, and to safeguard the future of production companies, along with its then President and henceforth Honorary Chairman François Chilot, inspired and created the Young Director Award in 1998.

Until 1984, François Chilot was Head of All Productions at TBWA when he chose to move on to found his own company – LES PRODUCERS, a name he embraced with the intention of conveying the philosophy that humour is the greatest elixir ever and, at the same time, underlining Les Producers’ across-the-board, multicultural identity.

In 2000, Les Producers entered the ‘Palme d’or’ list at the Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity and became one of the 10 top-ranking production companies in the world.

In recent years, the drive and vision of partner and producer Rikke Katborg has helped push Les Producers into the world of entertainment with the short film “Love Birds”, and the feature “A Beautiful Curse” both directed by Martin Garde Abildgaard and produced by Rikke Katborg.

“A Beautiful Curse” has now begun touring the international festival circuit, and will premiere at Cinequest Film and Creativity Festival in San José, California, as part of the New Visions Feature Film Competition.

François Chilot and the CFP-E are acknowledged for making the Young Director Award (YDA) the only non profit organization in the world to exclusively support and promote debuting, international creative talent in commercial film production, and the only award exclusively-dedicated to up-and-coming, young filmmakers.

Our primary goal is to discover and nurture young directing talent.

YDA’s uniqueness has led it to become a groundbreaker. It has paved the way, offering new directors remarkable opportunities for creating with state-of-the-art technology and cutting-edge techniques.

Maximizing global media coverage and heightening awareness of various stakeholders and players in the profession, YDA highlights the fact that one of the most essential roles of producers is to discover, nurture and promote directors.

It has become internationally recognized as the most important “must-see” fringe event of the Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity where, every year, over 500 participants and 900 spectators give prize-winning directors extraordinary exposure.

Since its creation, YDA has benefited from the support of a myriad of international partners and sponsors from the world of advertising, production and communication who have consistantly teamed up with YDA, to offer commitment, contribution and promotion of YDA’s vision to position gifted young directors on the world stage.

Undeniably future-oriented, YDA regularly welcomes new partners, sponsors, and visionaries on-board.

The YDA jury panel includes a host of highly-regarded industry producers, executive creative directors, and well-known journalists such as Danny Edwards, Editor of Shots and YDA Review, and Lyndy Stout, Founder and Editor of the online magazine 1.4.

Today, the Young Director Award pursues its quest as a pioneer, constantly breaking new ground, remaining at the forefront, and going beyond.

Beyond his work for YDA, François Chilot is frequently invited as a highly-demanded guest speaker and jury for advertising festivals and award events and ceremonies throughout the world, such as the Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity, D&AD, AICP Show, AdFest, FilmBrazil, Ciclope, AD Stars, PIAF to name but a few.

Throughout his career, François Chilot has forever pursued his adage for talented creatives: “without inherent desire, hard work, phenomenal talent and a pinch of luck, success is unattainable… When you make a film, make it stand out from the crowd!”