Director Betty Thomas (second from right) with "Emergence participants

Directors Jon Avnet and Betty Thomas recently served as mentors in "Emergence," a three-week directing workshop in Paris, France. Held May 25 through June 16, the workshop guided nine French filmmakers - six male and three female - through the exercises of directing an original and obligatory scene.

"Emergence" - now in its second year - is a result of a French American cultural fund, which was entered into in 1996 between SACEM, the Directors Guild of America (DGA), Writers Guild of America (WGA) and the Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA). The fund's goal is to provide education and mentoring for young French cinema and TV professionals. During the year, the Fund organizes directing, screenwriting and producing Master Classes which are led by renowned French and American filmmakers. In 1997 the fund co-launched "City of Lights, City of Angels," a festival of French films held annually in the DGA's Los Angeles theatre. This year the fund opened the doors for DGA directors to serve as mentors in "Emergence" for the first time.

"I found out about the workshop after I went to the festival. I really enjoyed the festival a lot and I was thrilled with the women that were directors of the pieces that I saw," said Thomas, the actress-turned-director, who won an Emmy for her role, Lucy Bates, on the groundbreaking police drama Hill Street Blues.

Her projects include Fox's 1998 Eddie Murphy hit Dr. Doolittle, the recent Sandra Bullock picture 28 Days, and she is the executive producer of the upcoming film Charlie's Angels. "The French films that I saw were so different than most American films. I call them testosterone films. It has to be about a young boy or a young boy. Those are your choices."

Thomas, who was a teacher before becoming a filmmaker, said she was curious about why the French films were so different and that was one of the reasons why she wanted to participate in the program.

Fellow director Avnet had similar motivations. Avnet, who has directed or produced such diverse films as Risky Business, Fried Green Tomatoes and the movie for television The Burning Bed, has also participated in the Director's Lab at Sundance and is the Chairman of the Center for the Advanced Film Studies Advisory Board at the American Film Institute.

He said participating in the Sundance Directing Lab - the template for "Emergence" - and knowing the French language prepared him for the French directing workshop.

"I was an American going over to France," said Avnet. "Luckily, I speak French very well."

Thomas, on the other hand, isn't fluent in the language. "I was like a baby speaking French," she said. "It was difficult because a lot of the other filmmakers didn't speak English very well either."

Thomas, though, didn't let the language barrier stop her. She was assigned to the first week of the program and during that time, she observed as the French directors prepped, shot and edited the obligatory scene.

"I tried to get to everybody's set and didn't interrupt them. After dinner, we would have discussions late into the night and I would share my ideas about what they could do," said Thomas, who was amazed at the final scenes. "Each director had to direct the same scene in their own way. You wouldn't believe how many different ways they directed the same scene. This just proves that the reason a movie is what it is, is because of the director."

And a director's vision - French and American - is one that has to be personally discovered, echoed Avnet. He mentored the filmmakers during the second week when they prepared, directed and edited original scenes from their own projects.

"My job as a mentor was to be there when they were about to make a mistake," said Avnet, who just finished producing Things You Can Tell by Just Looking at Her. The film, which was written and directed by Rodrigo Garcia, premiered at the Sundance Film Festival and will be released later this year. "My job wasn't so much telling them what to do, but to not tell them how to do it my way. I am accomplished and they are just starting out, but my way isn't necessarily the right way for what they want to do."

In fact, Avnet said, it was more interesting to wait and see what the French filmmakers would come with next.

"They are young filmmakers with unusual ideas. They have a lot to learn, yet their ideas are very fresh," said Avnet of the nine filmmakers who were handpicked from a pool of 150 competitors. "Their interpretations are quite daring."

One scene in particular sticks out for Thomas. The scene called for actresses, but one director used actors from his upcoming project in the female roles so he could get used to working with them.

"The actor played the part, not as woman, but as man. It was very interesting," said Thomas, who also made her debut French performance in one of the directing scenes. "My first French acting experience was traumatic for me, but good for the director. My character was supposed to be confused. So the director did what any good director would do and used the first take."

Avnet added that the French directors also did a good job of dealing with the same production concerns as their American counterparts.

"The differences between American and French directors are mostly cultural. But then there are the cross-cultural concerns of 'How do you stage a shot walking through the door,'" he said. "All filmmakers deal with these issues."

And it was refreshing how the French filmmakers visually solved those problems, said Thomas. She screened her comedy 28 Days at the workshop and it became clear to her why special effects and action films do so well overseas.

"Visuals are much easier to translate. I still have images in my head that I saw there. And that makes you begin to think of your work in a deeper way. I hope that I'm a better director because of it," said Thomas. "This experience made me think about how images do affect us. It made me think about how movies play around the world. My film is not just for my country anymore. It's for the world."

-Monice Mitchell