This Thursday, the Municipal Council of the City of Nice voted on the establishment of a training center at the Studios de la Victorine, which will host, from October 2021, the continuing education section of the Ecole nationale supérieure Louis-Lumière, and from September 2022, a completely innovative Master’s in immersive creation offered by this prestigious school and the University Côte d’Azur.
For several years, Christian Estrosi has been pursuing an ambitious policy aimed at enhancing the attractiveness of the region for hosting film and audiovisual productions, both in the city and within the Studios de la Victorine, which were taken over in 2017. To facilitate this hosting under the best possible conditions, the City of Nice undertook, in 2019, a renewal project for these studios to enhance their appeal and make them the top studios in France, or even Europe.
Christian Estrosi thus tasked Eric Garandeau, former President of the CNC, with a mission to propose a new strategy for the revival of the studios. A broad consultation was conducted, resulting in a report whose conclusions emphasized that enhancing the attractiveness of the Studios de la Victorine relied on the consolidation of three interdependent poles: the filming and production pole; the pole for hosting companies working in the audiovisual sector; the training pole for professions in this same sector.
The training pole is essential. It will allow students and professionals to be immersed in an environment conducive to learning audiovisual professions and promising career opportunities. To develop this pole, the City of Nice has thus entered into a partnership with the Ecole nationale supérieure Louis-Lumière, renowned for the excellence of its training, and the University Côte d’Azur, invested in the deployment of training in the field of audiovisual creation.
Through this cooperation, the ENS Louis-Lumière will offer, starting in October 2021, a continuing education program at the Studios de la Victorine in dedicated spaces. 65 trainees will be able to benefit from this offer throughout the year. It is aimed at both recent graduates and professionals wishing to enhance their skills or acquire new ones, and will include the following courses:
– Introduction to directing actors
– Introduction to scriptwriting
– Capturing and framing in fiction
– Training in electrical certification
– Director of photography
– Working with light in 35mm
– Director of audiovisual works
Furthermore, a completely innovative Master’s in immersive creation will be offered by the University Côte d’Azur starting in September 2022. This program will cater to about twenty students and will make the Studios de la Victorine a true site for experimentation and innovation, a laboratory for the creation and conception of the images and formats of tomorrow.
These audiovisual training sessions at the iconic Studios de la Victorine will significantly contribute to increasing the studios’ reputation and attractiveness, particularly among production companies that can also draw on the professionals and students trained on site. Other stages of the Victorine relaunch project are being developed in the field of training. The priority for 2021 remains to consolidate and develop the core of the site’s relaunch project around hosting and promoting audiovisual productions.
Ecole nationale supérieure Louis-Lumière
The Ecole nationale supérieure Louis-Lumière, founded in 1926 by personalities like Louis Lumière and Léon Gaumont, is historically the second film school in the world after VGIK (Moscow). It is also the most renowned of the six French public higher education schools dedicated to film, photography, and sound professions.
The mission of the ENS Louis-Lumière is to train high-level professionals in image and sound (master’s level). The employability rate of ENS Louis-Lumière graduates is nearly 100%. Many renowned professionals have graduated from the school, including Jean-Jacques Annaud, Philippe De Broca, Jacques Demy, Gaspar Noé, and Pierre Schoeller…
Every year, at the César Awards ceremony, the ENS Louis-Lumière is honored with new awardees among its alumni. This year, the César for Best Cinematography was awarded to Alexis Kavyrchine (cinema class of 1994) for the film “Adieu les cons” by Albert Dupontel, and the César for Best Sound was awarded to Jeanne Delplancq (sound class of 2009) and Olivier Goinard (sound class of 1998) for the film “Adolescentes” by Sébastien Lifshitz.
In 2013, the ENS Louis-Lumière opened an “equal opportunities” class to support the preparation for its entrance exam. Since 2014, it has been an associate member of the University Paris Lumières (UPL).
Université Côte d’Azur
The Université Côte d’Azur uniquely houses a college of 7 art and design schools and includes, in its strategic plan for 2020-2025, the development of an arts and science axis. This policy is also reflected in the Université Côte d’Azur project entitled: Joint Excellent and Dynamic Initiative (UCAJEDI), selected by the international Initiative D’Excellence (IDEX) jury, which aims to ensure the academic excellence of research and its national and international influence, its anchoring and full participation in the territorial ecosystem, as well as smooth interactions with the socio-economic world for research and development. Finally, for the past four years, the Université Côte d’Azur has been deploying a strategy for developing actions and training, particularly in the cultural and creative industries sector, in collaboration with local authorities with significant potential in this sector.
