Ilan Amouyal

First Picture is a Paris- and New York-based production company. Ilan Amouyal’s formation began with a BA in Economics, Business & Film Studies from Brandeis University jointly with a certificate from the Program of Negotiation at Harvard. It was followed by participation in The Atelier from La Fémis in Paris and an MFA from Columbia University in Creative Producing from which he graduated in 2017, earning the EP Award for Best Producer of the program.

First Picture made its first steps in the world of narratives with short projects including the winning entry of the last edition of Project Greenlight for HBO, the short film Léthé directed by Dea Kulumbegashvili, a sci-fi short shot in New Mexico titled Rust in Peace and the short film directed by Alexander Smia Midnight Blue in coproduction with Why Not Productions. The short films they’ve produced played in hundreds of film festivals including the Cannes Film Festival in the Director’s Fortnight section, International Film Festival Rotterdam and MoMA’s New Directors/New Films in New York. In 2019, they decided to jump into the world of feature film with their first endeavour, Beginning, directed by long-time collaborator Dea Kulumbegashvili. Through an innovative financial model, they went into production in the fall of 2019 and made one of 2020’s most prestigious festival runs, earning selections in the Official Competition of the Cannes Film Festival, the Toronto International Film Festival (where it won the FIPRESCI Award), and the San Sebastian Film Festival’s main competition (where it won the top four awards for Best Film, Best Director, Best Screenplay and Best Actress, which had never happened at the festival in its 68 years of existence) and the New York Film Festival’s main slate. Beginning was selected to represent the country of Georgia for the International Feature Film Oscar run.