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First contact

First Contact – named after the eponymous film by Robin Anderson and Bob Connolly, whose 40th anniversary was in 2022 – completed ParisDOC’s offer to producers, in partnership with Ateliers Varan.

First Contact invites producers to discover 9 projects currently in the writing stage, which are based on research in the social sciences, hard sciences or artistic creation. 

In 2025, 6 projects from the Ateliers Varan’s writing workshop, “Science in images, from research to the cinematic narrative”, will be presented. We are also inviting the Ardèche Images’ documentary school, La Fémis’ documentary film workshop and Caméra Libre, a program organized by the CNC, the Cité internationale des arts, and l’Usage du monde 21, to each present a project.

For French speakers only


First Contact 2025 – Invite only

Monday 24 March|10 a.m. – 4 p.m.
Alliance Française de Paris
101 Boulevard Raspail, 75006 Paris

10 a.m. – 1 p.m. | Auditorium | Presentation of the 9 projects in writing


1 p.m. – 4 p.m. | Foyer du théâtre | Lunch* / One-on-one meetings

*free lunch reserved to the producers having booked a meeting


As part of our partnership with the Sacem, composers are also invited to the presentations and encouraged to engage with the project holders during the one-on-one meetings organised by Cinéma du réel. The different support schemes offered by the Sacem and the Île-de-France region will be presented during the day.