The Jean-Luc Lagardère Foundation unveils its 31st cohort of grant winners

Twelve talented young designers awarded grants!

For its 31^st consecutive year, the Jean-Luc Lagardère Foundation has presented 11 grants to young professionals who submitted ambitious, original projects in the following categories: Documentary Filmmaker, Animation Filmmaker, Digital Creator, Writer, Print Journalist, Bookseller, Musician (Jazz and Classical Music, Contemporary Music), Photographer, Film Producer and Television Screenwriter.

In this extraordinary year, the Jean-Luc Lagardère Foundation is proud to have confirmed its strong commitment to culture and the young generations that will be creating the world of tomorrow.

The grants, awarded since 1990, give young creatives under the age of 30 (or 35 for the Bookseller, Photographer and Television Screenwriter grants) both financial support and the time they need to bring their projects to fruition, plus the opportunity to develop relationships with the people on the judging panels: members of the media and arts communities.

The amounts awarded through the grants (from €10,000 to €50,000) and the range of disciplines involved make the Jean-Luc Lagardère Foundation one of the top patrons of young creative talent in the French-speaking world.

2020 grant winners

Documentary Filmmaker Grant (€25,000)
Aliénor – age 30
Project: create Humanitaires, an investigatory documentary on sexism in the humanitarian sphere.

Animation Filmmaker Grant (€30,000)
Lucas Malbrun – age 30
Project: using markers and paper, create Margarethe, a short film about the life of a young artist living in East Germany before the fall of the Berlin Wall.

Digital Creator Grant (€25,000)
Esther Bouquet – age 25
Project: create Extraction and Monetization of Human Assets, a performance in the form of an immersive, interactive and participative play about personal data being collected online.

Writer Grant (€25,000)
Salomé Berlemont-Gilles – age 27
Project: write her second novel, Auxiliaire, about invisible women who devote their lives and day-to-day activities to others.

Print Journalist Grant (€10,000)
Romuald Gadegbeku – age 30
Project: tell the story of “The American mirage of African basketball players” in a long journalistic segment filmed in both Africa and the United States.

Bookseller Grant (€30,000)
Halima M’Birik – age 34 and Elsa Piacentino – age 34
Project: develop their bookstore, El Ghorba Mon Amour, which first opened in March 2020 in Nanterre (administrative department no. 92).

Musician – Jazz and Classical Music Grant (€12,500)
Adriana Gonzalez – age 29
Project: record all the melodies by composer Issac Albéniz (1860–1909) and create a related musical biography experience. Musician Grant –

Contemporary Music (€12,500)
Laura Cahen – age 30
Project: support the release of her second album, Une Fille, by creating a visual identity (music video, scenography etc.).

Photographer Grant (€15,000)
Mouna Saboni – age 33
Project: create a photo essay along the Jordan River about the global water crisis in Israeli, Jordanian and Palestinian territories.

Film Producer Grant (€50,000)
Antoine Salomé – age 30
Project: produce the first feature film of Nyima Cartier, which will also be the first feature film for his company, Mabel Films.

Television Screenwriter Grant (€20,000)
Mathieu Pichard-Rivalan – age 33
Project: create a series (eight 45-minute episodes) about Duchess Anne of Brittany.

The Jean-Luc Lagardère Foundation grant winners are selected by prestigious judging panels headed by high-profile members of the media, arts and culture communities: Catherine Alvaresse, France Télévisions Documentary Unit Director (Documentary Filmmaker judging panel); Nils Aziosmanoff, Le Cube President (Digital Creator judging panel); Jérôme Béglé, Le Point Deputy Editorial Director (Writer judging panel); Serge Bromberg, Lobster Films CEO (Animation Filmmaker judging panel); Jean-Marie Colombani, Slate.fr Cofounder (Print Journalist judging panel); Jimmy Desmarais, Netflix Producer (Television Screenwriter judging panel); Laurent Didailler, Pias France Managing Director (Musician – Contemporary Music judging panel); Pierre Lescure, Cannes Film Festival President (Film Producer judging panel); Sam Stourdzé, Director, Académie de France in Rome – Villa Médicis (Photographer judging panel); Pascal Thuot, Managing Firector of the bookstore Millepages in Vincennes (Bookseller judging panel) and Zahia Ziouani, Orchestra Conductor and Director of the Orchestre Symphonique Divertimento (Musician – Jazz and Classical Music judging panel).

This year’s winners are joining a community of 320 talents who have previously won grants from the Jean-Luc Lagardère Foundation. Many of them have made achievements these past few months:

• Catherine Bozorgan (2008 Film Producer Grant winner), the producer of Adieu les Cons, a film by Albert Dupontel, which won seven awards in the 46th César Awards ceremony, including Best Picture and Best Producer.
• Laurent Coulondre (2016 Musician – Jazz and Classical Music Grant winner), a pianist, who won a second Victoire du Jazz Award in the Instrumental Artist category after being named “2019 French Musician of the Year” by Jazz Magazine.
• Alexandre Najjar (1990 Writer Grant winner), who won the 2020 Grand Prix de la Francophonie award from the Académie Française. This award recognizes his entire body of work for having “contributed eminently to the maintenance and illustration of the French language” in his country or at international level. 

Applications for the 2021 grants will be accepted beginning in April and until June 5th on the Jean-Luc Lagardère Foundation’s website: www.fondation-jeanluclagardere.com