Production: The Saatchis new directors showcase - Talent incubator.(Saatchi & Saatchi)

As Saatchis prepares for this year's Cannes adfest, Mairi Clark looks at which genres, and which countries, are yielding tomorrow's directing talent.

Now in its 18th year, the Saatchi & Saatchi New Directors' Showcase will catapult the Cannes audience back in time, by handing out 3D glasses to viewers as they walk into the Grand Palais today.

The glasses are to accompany one of the most inventive films on the showreel, a promo for the Icelandic star Bjork, by Sean Hellfritsch and Isaiah Saxon, the duo known as Encyclopedia Pictura.

'About five years ago, we really feared for the life of the creative promo,' the Saatchi & Saatchi creative director, ideas, company, culture, Richard Myers, says. 'There were lots of boy bands where there was a song, and maybe they were moving around a bit. This year, we've seen lots of really strong ideas.'

The showcase has been a mainstay of the Cannes International Advertising Festival for nearly 20 years, and it has outgrown both of the main venues. Last year, it filled the Grand Palais with an audience of 3,000-plus, and this year it has once again secured its original haunt, the Debussy Theatre, to cope with the overspill. It will also be accompanied by a global webcast.

This is what gives the event longevity, according to Bob Isherwood, the Saatchi & Saatchi worldwide creative director, even in these days of the internet being a showcase for every film.

'It was a few years ago, when Terry Savage, the chief executive of the festival, couldn't get into the showcase, that we were given the Debussy for the overspill,' he says. 'Apart from the Saturday night awards night, we're now the biggest event. The interest is still there.'

Isherwood believes that the internet is the perfect incubator for talent, and …