The International Emerging Film Talent Association returns to Cannes with workshops and a new documentary as part of its mandate to help filmmakers from emerging regions, which this year includes Bangladesh, Ethiopia, Egypt and Palestine.

IEFTA, in partnership with the Marché du Film and its Producers Network and Industry Workshops programs, has set up a series of meetings with industry pros to encourage filmmakers who otherwise would have little or no access to cinema resources.

This is the 12th anniversary of IEFTA-supported initiatives including its Global Film Expression program. In the past, the Monaco-based organization has brought Ethiopian and Bangladesh filmmakers. This is the first year for GFE filmmakers from Egypt and Palestine, and the first year of its new partnership with the Princess Grace Foundation-USA to sponsor a filmmaker in Cannes.

IEFTA is sponsoring three filmmakers in the Producers Network. Participants will meet co-producers, sales agents, festivals and film-fund executives who can be potential partners in international co-productions. The three filmmakers are Tamara Dawit, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia (GFE); May Odeh, Palestine (El Gouna Film Festival); and Heidi Saman, Philadelphia (Princess Grace Foundation-USA).

The organization is also bringing five filmmakers for the four-day Industry Workshops program, which includes a speed-meeting session with about 35 industry pros. Filmmakers attending are Bassam Mortada, Cairo (El Gouna Festival); Kismet El Sayed, Cairo (El Gouna Fest); Sumon Delwar, Dhaka, Bangladesh (IFIB); Rezwan Sumit, Dhaka (IFIB); and Florian Tscharf, Germany (Watersprite Film Festival).

The organization will also present a documentary work-in-progress, “Beyond the Raging Sea.” It follows two Egyptians on their 3,000-mile journey from the Canary Islands to Antigua. The screening and a panel will be May 12 at noon in Palais K in the Palais des Festivals.

The third edition of UN Refugee Agency’s annual Refugee Voices in Film, in collaboration with the Marché du Film and the UNHCR, will be held May 11 and May 13. It focuses on the Rohingya crisis, Yemen & the Horn of Africa, and Syria. It screens in the “Doc Corner” of the Marché du Film in the Riviera. IEFTA will host a reception at Plage 45, for all of its 2018 Cannes participants and programs.