The Program was founded in early 2002 by Ralph Ackerman a working film professional since 1963, in response to his understanding of the growing need to arm emerging filmmakers, film professionals, film students and migrating professionals from other fields such as law and finance with the essential skills to fund, acquire worldwide distribution and the marketing of independent films. Ackerman located a venue for attendees to lodge and attend the Master Intensive course in complete comfort just minutes from the center of Cannes right of the beach in a beautiful French campus of the College International de Cannes.

An International Program
Ackerman organized the Program to promote international cooperation. This is accomplished in the ways attendees are selected to attend and in the ways the Program collaborates with other programs having similar goals.

The Film Program Cannes is a private professional training program for filmmakers by filmmakers and is not part of the
Official Cannes Film Festival or Film Market

Ralph Ackerman, Founder Film Program Cannes (right called a filmmaker's filmmaker
on camera on location 1969) Ralph Ackerman was a champion of alternative-independent filmmaking. He taught, held workshops, wrote on the subject, and developed new methods to gain its acceptance.
Prior to International Short Film Association the Film Program Cannes was his first film organization effort which marked his entry into the international film arena.

Ackerman made his first film in 1963 which was picked as a highlight of the Ann Arbor Film Festival and on the following year sent on a national tour with the other festival winners.
He entered the Short Film Corner of the Cannes Market with two short films, Woodstock Festival Artist and A Loaded Gun. Upon his return from the 2nd Short Film Corner he founded the International Short Film Association to address the growing importance of the short film in the many new markets including portable viewing devices. He has been a film judge at many film festivals, has won several awards, and has been involved in film conferences and workshops through out his career.
Ackerman produced Rock-it Box, the first feature in Super8 film to be transferred to "broadcast video" using the new digital transfer method in 1980. His multi-format experimental feature film, Zoo Liquid Prototype, 16mm Black & White, was premiered in New York in 1997. Recently Ackerman made a 16:9 - digital feature film, Hold True. He was President and then on the Board of Directors of the indepentent film distributor, the New American Cinema: "Film-Makers' Cooperative" of New York. He has worked with the Museum of Modern Art's (MoMA New York) Film Department (Film Study Center) archiving the New York Film-Makers' Coop's extensive Ackerman has been a senior consultant to the Digital Hollywood Conference for the past 16 years.
Ackerman has several productions in progress including a documentary about the Hip Hop world of the DJ called, From Waxx to Digital. He wrote about film/video/digital/internet technology for Release Print magazine of the Film Arts Foundation, San Francisco, California. For many years he was based in the in the Chelsea art district of New York City. The Ackerman Image Archive features over 40 years of still and motion images.