The Résidence du Festival was inaugurated in 2000 by the Cannes Film Festival Cinéfondation to offer young filmmakers from around the world accommodation in Paris for 4 months and a half and a program of seminars and professional contacts to help them realize a feature film project. They are selected by 7 French filmmakers including Olivier Assayas. They devote their time at the Résidence to writing a script for their own film project. They receive advice from established directors and scriptwriters to further their work, and meet people in the industry in order to advance their project. The grant helped towards ensuring the international distribution of the first two feature films to have been made by filmmakers who stayed at the Résidence in 2000 and 2001.