The place
A film lab in Brittany, a European hub for cultural decentralisation
Every year Le Groupe Ouest reinforces its position as a place for producing meaning.
Meaning for and through the stories which are written here.
Meaning rooted in its geographical position and its humanistic approach.
Meaning for the local villagers involved in making the improbable become possible.
Meaning, drawing on humanity to create narratives which enable us to confront, comprehend and dream our lives.
Le Groupe Ouest supports the creation of fictional stories within a framework of European collaboration, set in a rural and coastal environment. Le Groupe Ouest is:
- A unique place in Europe dedicated to the accompaniment of writers in residence and the follow-up of script development
- A platform for applied research in storytelling
- An innovative approach associating the business world with the development of film narrative from a humanistic perspective
Over 50 films coached at Le Groupe Ouest selected for Cannes, Berlin, Sundance, Venice, etc.
Le Groupe Ouest has become the hot spot in Europe for coaching writers and scriptwriters for film and series, and first in France for professional filmmakers and scriptwriters training.
Among the authors who have passed through our hands are Houda Benyamina & Romain Compingt, Caméra d’Or at the Cannes Film Festival in 2016 & 3 César in 2017 with “Divines”, Sabrina B. Karine & Alice Vial, for “The Innocents”, the film received a standing ovation at Sundance 2016, Massoud Bakhshi, Grand Prix at Sundance 2020 with “Yalda, a night for forgiveness”, Maïmouna Doucouré, Best Director at Sundance 2020 and the Special Mention from the Jury at the Berlinale 2020 for “Cuties”, Pablo Agüero & Katel Guillou, received five Goya (equivalent to the César in Spain) for “Les Sorcières d’Akelarre”, or Lukas Dhont for “Close”, Grand Prix at the Cannes Festival 2022.
Le Groupe Ouest created LIM | Less is More, the European feature film development programme for committed filmmakers in a changing world, and also StoryTANK, a Think Tank bringing together screenwriters and researchers. Le Groupe Ouest has also created the first French endowment fund dedicated to supporting independent cinema: the Breizh Film Fund.
A creative elsewhere in Brittany
Le Groupe Ouest draws its raw power from the Côte des Légende’s granite landscapes, its puissance from its Pagan territory’s wild coasts. For symbolic reasons – its legends, its radical decentralised position, set in a strong agricultural environment… And for specific reasons: a complete change of scene for the filmmakers, a remoteness facilitating work with the imagination, the participation of the local inhabitants…
Set in the Côte des Légendes, Le Groupe Ouest ensures on a day to day basis that its laboratory for a cinema of the future progresses with the participation of the local, coastal villages. The inhabitants of Plounéour-Brignogan-Plages in particular have been very active from the start, and more generally Lesneven’s Côte des Légendes Community of Communes, thanks to whom Le Groupe Ouest team and its script-consultants work in an exceptional setting!
