Victor Longin ‘25 brought a unique passion, expertise, and point-of-view on international film to his two years in the Peter Stark Producing Program. In addition to receiving his MFA the past couple of years, the Belgium native produced the short film Shutterspeed with director Jasper De Maeseneer back in Belgium.

Victor Longin '25

Longin was recently selected for Cannes Makers 2025 as one of ten professionals entering the international film business at the Cannes Film Festival. Longin sat down with USC to discuss the Cannes Makers program, the Peter Stark Producing Program, and how having one foot in two worlds can be a massive opportunity.

Let’s start with your name and graduation year. My name is Victor Longin and I'm graduating in 2025.

Congrats on Cannes Makers. Can you tell me what that program is? Cannes Makers is part of the Cannes Film Festival’s Marché du Film. It's a program specifically designed for people pursuing international sales, distribution, and marketing. The committee selects ten young industry professionals under thirty that are pursuing careers in these fields.

They are looking for people that are in the first few years of their professional lives. The Stark Program gave me those first steps of relevant work experience I needed and also I come from an international film background so it was a perfect fit. The program is three days in the middle of Cannes and we'll get to meet a lot of very interesting sales agents and distributors. I think of them as people I should know.

What attracted you to Cannes Makers? Right now, I’m making a bridge between what I did at Stark and what I want to do in the future; which is producing and sales in the international space. While at Stark, I also produced a short film in Belgium called Shutterspeed which we just completed and are premiering this year. It had a lot of Stark support. Making that film really helped my application.

These are the types of films I love and I’m a little obsessed with figuring out how to brand and market them. In the last few years the rise of MUBI, A24, and NEON has been fascinating because these players act as stamps of approval for a film. It’s always been that way in the blockbuster space but that strategy is now coming to the indie world.

I was educated to be a line producer in Belgium but I really like to think about the bigger picture and working with creative voices and trying to put their stuff out there, curating and creating audiences. The Stark Program really helped me understand my passion.

I can tell how passionate you are about international film. As a young professional in that space, where do you see it heading? Oh, I'm extremely passionate about it. I think the indie world is going to seep more into the mainstream because people long for more of these authentic, human-created stories after having been too exposed to algorithmic social media and  short content. I think we're moving towards a change. With some auteur-centered companies having figured out the sort of brand identity that's needed to track people to these films.

I now strive to leverage these two years at Stark throughout this next upcoming phase. In a way, now I belong nowhere and anywhere. In Belgium, I’m the American one, and in LA, I’m the one from Belgium. But there's a lot of mutual interest. A lot of mutual opportunities.

When you’re telling outside people about the Stark Program, how do you pitch it? I pitch it as the two most intense years with the best friends and colleagues that will remain with you for the rest of your life. I've never been in a program or a place or a group of people where the bar we mutually set is so high and the support we give each other is so great at the same time.

Is there a lesson from Stark that you’re going to carry for the rest of your career? Ed Saxon, our program head,  said something super inspiring in one of the first weeks. I had left amazing relationships with directors and producers in Belgium and packed up. I didn’t know what to think about my time in Los Angeles yet so I was just kind of seeing how this goes.

Ed has this great course and one of the main quotes that stuck with me to this day was that we, as producers, are literally nothing without the talent. It made me realize that the best thing I could do was to continue nurturing my relationships in Belgian film and how important they were. I’m so grateful that Ed gave me that lesson.

Do you have any tips on navigating Stark? Your priority number one should be to get to know everybody. I absolutely include the year above you and then when you're a second year the year below. I got the most benefit from the other students in my class.

What’s next for you?  I'm actively trying to get our film Shutterspeed out there and I started development with the same director Jasper De Maeseneer on a first feature film. I want to learn in the next couple of years as much as possible about sales and distribution as well.

It’s an exciting time.

You’re about to graduate from Stark and attend Cannes as a fellow. What does it mean to you to be in these two rarified places?  I am over the moon honored. When I got into film school in Belgium I was like "Whoa. That's crazy” like “why me?” But by the end of it I felt like "Oh I I know exactly why me”  because this is who I am now. And it’s the same with Stark and now it's happening with Cannes. I don’t feel intimidated anymore. I feel energized.

Where can people find you? I'm @victorlongin on Instagram.