Cannes Critics’ Week has unveiled Next Step Studio Indonesia, marking a significant expansion of its talent development programs for 2026.
The company, created in partnership with the production companies KawanKawan Media and DW, revives the spirit of La Factory, a filmmaker incubator which operated at Directors’ Fortnight from 2013.
Under the new banner, four directing duos will collaborate on a quartet of short films, each 15 minutes long. The lineup is split equally between Indonesian talent and international directors, with each duo sharing writing and directing duties. Funding comes entirely from Indonesian sources and the completed works will debut at Critics’ Week with a dedicated “Next Step Presents” showcase. The screenings also serve as a market opportunity, with participating directors pitching their first or second feature film concepts to acquisitions executives, sales agents and potential co-production partners.
The model builds on a decade of global outreach that has touched multiple continents. Previous iterations have visited places such as Taiwan, Chile, Finland, Denmark, South Africa, Lebanon, Tunisia, the Balkans, northern Portugal, the Philippines, and Brazil’s Ceará region. The list shows that more than 80 directors have completed the program, and almost 50 of them have completed their first feature films.
“Our goal is to use the collaboration as a framework to launch not only stories from Indonesia, but also to showcase talents and voices from Southeast Asia that can grow on the international stage in the future,” said Yulia Evina Bhara of KawanKawan Media, which is co-producing the inaugural edition. “We are delighted that our company KawanKawanMedia represents Indonesia to convey this spirit and deeply energized that La Semaine de la Critique shares this enthusiasm. We feel honored to collaborate with DW and La Semaine in this inaugural edition.”
Funding for the Jakarta-based production comes from municipal authorities and Indonesian cultural institutions, with support from the French Embassy in Indonesia and the French Institute of Indonesia. Bhara shares production responsibilities with DW’s Dominique Welinski, who developed the original concept for Factory and continues to serve as the program’s creative architect.
“Next Step Studio marks a new start for the Factory program. Critics’ Week welcomes first and second feature films to Cannes. It’s obvious, thank you Ava Cahen, Thomas Rosso, Rémi Bigot and the entire team who welcome us with shared enthusiasm,” said Welinski. “This first edition in Indonesia is already underway, thanks to Yulia Evina Bhara, her partners and her team, who worked hard to make the program happen. »
The initiative goes beyond pure production, positioning itself as a networking infrastructure for emerging filmmakers. By pairing the Cannes premiere with structured access to the industry, organizers hope to create visibility for attendees while connecting Indonesian production capacity to international distribution channels. After Cannes, short films typically play at major festivals, including Sundance, Toronto and Clermont-Ferrand, with television networks and streaming services frequently acquiring the rights.
Next Step Studio represents an evolution of Critics’ Week’s existing workshop programs, which focus on supporting filmmakers in the transition from short to feature film. While previous iterations focused on filmmakers already selected for the festival’s short film competition, the new model welcomes outside projects and emphasizes cross-cultural exchange. Several international participants will already have Next Step experience, creating mentoring opportunities within the cohort.
“After Next Step in 2014 and Next Step II in 2023, we are excited to continue developing our workshops with Next Step Studio,” said Thomas Rosso, director of Next Step. “A different formula but the same objective, at the heart of the mission of Critics’ Week: to discover and support new talents in world cinema, more precisely here in their journey from short to feature film. It is a pleasure to welcome Dominique Welinski to the Next Step family and to collaborate with the talented Yulia Evina Bhara for this first stopover in Indonesia: a way of gradually opening our programming to new horizons and new proposals, always in a spirit of exchange and experimentation. »
