"It's very difficult for photographers to find ways to finance their work," says Didier Rapaud, a former director of photography at Paris Match. "What we wanted to do is to gather public funds with the help of private companies - and I'm not necessarily talking about large, national companies, but local Small and Medium-Sized Enterprises - to help finance new projects."

The result is a new kind of photography festival, which will be held in October 2012 in Saint-Brieuc in Britanny, France. "Alexandre Solacolu came up with the idea. Even though he doesn't come from the photographic community, he wanted to help photographers finance their work," adds Rapaud.

The festival plans on raising close to €150,000 that will go to finance between eight and 10 new projects. "For us, it was crucial to be able to finance new projects," Rapaud tells BJP in a phone interview. "We will have an international jury and the only instruction our jurors will have is to create a balance between serious and lighter subjects."

Rapaud is inviting photographers, from any countries, to submit their proposals. "These entrants will have to guarantee the exclusivity of their projects to the festival, and they will have to list exactly how much they will need and what they will do with these funds, as once they have been selected, they won't be able to ask for more money."

Rapaud estimates that the selected photographers will be able to receive, on average, up to €15,000 to finance their projects.

The deadline for entries is 10 December. For more information, visit the Saint-Brieuc website (in French). The form to enter (also in French) can be found here.