Kamir Aïnouz : 2020
Honey Cigar

Paris, 1993. Selma, 17, lives in a bourgeois and secular Berber family. When she meets and is strongly attracted to Julien, a dashing young man, she realises for the first time the heavy rules of her patriarchal family and how they affect her intimacy. As Islamism takes over her country of origin and her family crumbles, Selma discovers the power of her own desire. She must resist and fight. Through the strength of her people, she starts walking down the path of what it means to become a free woman. Kamir Aïnouz's directorial debut premiered in competition at Venice Days 2020.

Emmanuel Mouret : 2020
Les choses qu'on dit, les choses qu'on fait

Vacations in the French countryside. Daphne, three months pregnant, finds herself alone to welcome Maxime, her boyfriend François' cousin. François had to leave in a hurry for Paris to cover for a sick colleague. For four days, while waiting for his return, Daphne and Maxime get to know each other and share very intimate stories that bring them closer. A contemporary star-crossed love affair, where no partner is more at fault than the other. Multiple love triangles seen with authenticity, elegance and compassion. Emmanuel Mouret's feature premiered in the Marché du Film event as part of the Official Selection at Festival de Cannes 2020.

Suzanne Lindon : 2020
16 Printemps

Suzanne is sixteen. People her own age bore her. Every day on her way to high school, she passes a theatre. There, she meets an older man, who becomes obsessed with her. Despite their age difference, they find in each other an answer to their ennui and fall in love. But Suzanne is afraid she's missing out on life – that life of a 16-year-old, which she had struggled so much to enjoy in the same way as her peers. Suzanne Lindon's feature debut premiered in the Marché du Film event as part of the Official Selection at Festival de Cannes 2020.

Roxanne Gaucherand : 2020

In the middle of summer 2016, the box tree moth takes over the Drôme Provençale region. Accidentally introduced into France, this moth forces inhabitants, virtually forsaken by the authorities and helpless faced with the scale of the phenomenon, to improvise defensive systems to fight the invasion of their houses and businesses as well as the devastation of their lands. In this apocalyptic climate, 18-year-old Lou spends her last summer in the South and discovers her feelings for her childhood friend, Sam. As their relationship gradually develops into a love affair, the urgency and upheaval that she feels echo her environment; an ecosystem subverted by an unexpected invasion. Roxanne Gaucherand's short premiered in the Burning Lights International Competition section at Visions du Réel 2020.

Sébastien Betbeder : 2019
Up the Mountain

Stan, Hugo and Bérénice are three childhood friends who grew up in the mountains. They were inseparable but then grew apart. 15 years later, as adults somewhat damaged by life, they find themselves in the village of their childhood, having returned to bury Hugo's brother. The reunion marks the beginning of an adventure and a new life. Will it allow them to reconnect with the fantasy, the carefree and the joy of their first years? It seems it's not so easy to leave behind the place where everything started and where everything is still possible. Sébastien Betbeder's feature premiered at Lyon 2019.

Mathias Pardo : 2019
The Escape

Barely of age but not quite adults, Tess and Anatole still know nothing about love. Anatole sleeps where he can while waiting for a stable job to come along, whereas Tess is about to start preparatory classes in Paris. They first meet in the surroundings of a port in decline, like a symbol of a country that is suffocating but which still has something to say. He has a tent, she has a car: together they will criss-cross the country's roads and draw out the summer, to ensure they never forget. Mathias Pardo's feature debut premiered in competition at Saint-Jean-de-Luz International Film Festival 2019.

Boaz Yakin : 2020

Aviva is the story of a couple and their complicated relationship in trying to balance both sides of their respective characters; the masculine and feminine. Aviva and Eden as with all new relationships are facing conflict within their partnership. These conflicts extend outward, touching everything, resulting in disruptive behaviour that challenges their very real connection. Aviva and Eden, in the story of their journey as a couple from courtship to marriage, to a divorce and finally into deep loving friendship. It is a theme of the masculine/feminine duality in each of them and how that balance or imbalance affects the relationship between them. For the purposes of this story, each character is played by a man and a woman to reflect the conflicting sides of our own inner male and female perspectives. Aviva is the unique exploration of gender within ourselves, told through the lens of a modern-day romantic relationship from Paris to New York. Boaz Yakin's narrative feature was selected to premiere at SXSW 2020.

Sébastien Lifshitz : 2020
Little Girl

When she grows up, she will be a girl. This is something Sasha has dreamed of since childhood. Her family soon realises how serious she is. In addition to interviews with the parents, who acknowledge their daughter as such without hesitation, the film depicts the family's tireless struggle against a hostile environment as well as their everyday lives. We see Sasha at play, practising ballet and during a visit to a therapist specialising in gender identities. At school, Sasha is not allowed to appear as a girl but must wear gender-specific boys' clothes. Tenderly filmed images and close-ups of Sasha's face create a gentle intimacy. Sometimes, it is as if she does not understand why everything is so complicated and why she cannot simply be what she is and wear what she wants. A touching portrait of an eight-year-old who questions her gender and who, in doing so, provokes some disturbing reactions from a society still stuck in a biologically deterministic boy-girl way of thinking. Sébastien Lifshitz's documentary premiered in the Panorama Dokumente section at Berlin International Film Festival 2020.

Philippe Garrel : 2020
The Salt of Tears

Driven by his desire to become a cabinet maker, Luc arrives in Paris. Lost in the banlieues, he asks Djemila for directions. In the girl's shyness, Luc glimpses the chance of an adventure. The two meet again but then Luc has to return home to his father, who is also a carpenter. There, he meets Geneviève, whom he knows from the past, and begins a romance with her. When Luc is offered a place at the renowned furniture-making school École Boulle, he follows his dream and moves to Paris, leaving Geneviève behind. Soon, a third young woman enters his small apartment, bringing the freedom of the big city with her. Time and again, Luc succumbs to glittering appearances, but with each conquest he loses something, the value of which he only realises later. Philippe Garrel's feature premiered in competition at Berlin International Film Festival 2020.

Olgun Özdemir : 2019
Kızım Gibi Kokuyorsun

Beatrice's life changes dramatically during the terrorist attack in Nice in July 2016 where she loses her parents, her husband and six-year-old daughter, who came to admire the fireworks on the famous Promenade des Anglais. Beatrice, fulfilling the wishes of her father, decides to repatriate the bodies in his native Armenian village in Hatay, Turkey, near the Syrian border. Beatrice desperately tries to commit suicide when Hevi, a minority Yezidi girl, prevents her from taking her own life. Hevi makes her understand that she escaped from the hands of her persecutors but she has a sister, who must be in one of the refugee camps around the area. Beatrice decides to help her to find her sister, accompanied by Ibrahim, a young Turkish expatriate who came to visit his family. Together, the three strangers whose lives were shattered by tragic events, find themselves on an amazing journey searching for strength and hope. Olgun Özdemir's feature premiered at Shanghai International Film Festival 2019, and had its Turkish premiere at International Bosphorus Film Festival 2019.

Rodrigo Sorogoyen : 2019

Ten years have passed since Elena's son, then six years old, has disappeared. The last thing she heard of him was a phone call he made to her, saying that he was lost on a beach in France and couldn't find his father. Today, Elena lives on this same beach and manages a restaurant. She is finally beginning to emerge from this tragic episode when she meets a French teenager who strongly reminds her of her lost son. The two of them will embark on a relationship, which will sow chaos and distrust around them. A psychological drama of grief; the long-lasting effects of trauma on a 39-year-old woman; and a coming-of-age tale of a 16-year-old boy – the story of the relationship that develops between them at the tail end of a summer. Rodrigo Sorogoyen's feature premiered in competition in the Orizzonti section at Venice International Film Festival 2019, and received a Special Mention when it screened in competition at Festival Cinéma Méditerranéen Montpellier 2019.

Sébastien Lifshitz : 2019
Adolescents

Born in a small, provincial French town, Anaïs and Emma have been best friends since childhood. It's a friendship that's blind to differences in social backgrounds and character. Given incredible access, the director painstakingly filmed the girls' transformation over five years, during the period when their physical, emotional and intellectual development is dramatic. We first meet them aged 13, their lives are dominated by boys, teachers and arguing with their mums. But as we witness them near adulthood, their journey is both fascinating and surprisingly moving. At the same time, the influence of their environment and family circumstances becomes increasingly apparent. New experiences, everyday conversations and events both personal and political anchor the film, creating a uniquely textured and deeply personal portrait of two young French women. Sébastien Lifshitz's documentary feature premiered at the Semaine de la Critique at Locarno Film Festival 2019, and screened in the Alice nella Città section at Rome Film Festival 2019.

Fabrice du Welz : 2019

Paul is a lonely young boy who lives with his mother in a private psychiatric clinic where she works as a nurse. His father left them a long time ago. Simple and naive, Paul likes to roam the forest and observe nature, living in harmony with the elements. One day a new patient arrives at the clinic. Her name is Gloria, a young schizophrenic teenager, troubled and solitary. Paul falls madly in love and because he believes that she is in danger, helps her to escape and runs away with her. Adolescents adrift, fleeing this adult world that scares them, reassured by the soft presence of the murmur of the river. They embark on a journey to the "haven of peace" described by Gloria: the house of her grandfather, on the coast of pink granite in Bretagne. This is the beginning of a long journey that will take the two children to the heart of madness. Fabrice du Welz's sixth feature premiered in the Piazza Grande section at Locarno Film Festival 2019.

Fabienne Berthaud : 2019
A Bigger World

In order to forget the death of Paul, the man of her life, Corine leaves Paris for a few weeks to direct a project in Mongolia. But her meeting with the shaman Oyun disrupts her journey, as Oyun proclaims that Corine has received a rare gift and must be trained in shamanic traditions. Back in France, she cannot refuse what is now imposed on her: she must go back to Mongolia to begin her initiation. She will agree to start a journey of discovery, which will lead her to discover a new culture, ancestral and forgotten ways, but most importantly herself. Based on Mon initiation chez les chamanes by Corine Sombrun, Fabienne Berthaud's feature premiered in competition at Venice Days 2019.

Flavia Castro : 2018
Deslembro

Joana, a teenager, feeds her soul with literature and rock. In 1979, when amnesty is granted in Brazil, she lives with her family in Paris. Overnight and against her will, Joana moves back to the country she barely remembers. In the early 1980s, in Rio de Janeiro, the city she was born in and where her father has forcedly disappeared, she recovers pieces of memory from a fragmented childhood. Not everything is real, not everything is imagination. And as she remembers, Joana is able to write her own story in the present tense. Interweaving personal and political history, Flavia Castro's largely autobiographical first feature premiered in competition in the Orizzonti section at Venice International Film Festival 2018, and screened in the New Cinema section at Transatlantyk Festival 2019.

Vincent Mariette : 2018
Savage

Summer is in full swing in a Dordogne camping site. Several youngsters mysteriously disappear, and as rumours begin to circulate about the presence of a panther in the surrounding area, the teenagers can sense a feeling of danger to their core. 17-year-old Laura, who is spending the holidays with her family at the campsite, is trying to solve the mystery when one of her friends vanishes without trace. Unlike all the others, Laura isn't frightened of the mysterious feline; on the contrary, she is strangely attracted to it. In this electric atmosphere, Laura meets Paul, a creepy yet charming writer. An ambiguous relationship develops between these two, who, though seemingly different, are brought together by their passion for mystery. Vincent Mariette's coming-of-age thriller premiered at Fantastic Fest 2018, and screened in competition at Neuchâtel International Fantastic Film Festival 2019.

Enrico Masi : 2019

Pepsi is a transgender woman looking for a stable job as a caregiver. As a former member of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front active in an island of southern Philippines, she escaped from her country to work as a nurse for over 10 years in Gaddafi's Libya. Because of gender discrimination, she was forced to join the flow of refugees. Then, she faced European institutions as an asylum seeker. It was in the city of Bologna, Italy, where she obtained the first acknowledgement of her status. However, she could not stop there. Her journey continued towards France, crossing the dangerous "pass of death" on the heights of Ventimiglia. With the strength of her experience in the wild mountains of Mindanao she reached Paris. There, she acquired a second identity and found underground work offering massages, sharing interstitial spaces among the harsh architectures of the metropolis. Her voice-over tale is a post-colonial parable, in which European geography mingles with an intimate emotional drama. Her wander recalls the ancient myth of Europa, according to which a young woman was kidnapped and raped by Jupiter, in the shape of a bull. He took her to an island in the Mediterranean from which she gave the name to the continent. 16mm film, analogue video and grainy iPhone footage contribute to a phantom image of life in the urban underground. A strategic and militant response to society's aggressive insistence that everything and everyone can be defined according to the norms of the majority. Enrico Masi's documentary premiered at Copenhagen International Documentary Festival 2019, and had its UK premiere at Sheffield Doc/Fest 2019.

Aude Léa Rapin : 2019
Les héros ne meurent jamais

In a street in Paris, a stranger thinks he's recognised in Joachim a soldier who died in Bosnia on 21st August 1983. Thing is, this is the very day Joachim was born: 21st August 1983! Thrown by the idea he might be the reincarnation of this man, he decides to go to Sarajevo with his friends Alice and Virginie. In this country, haunted by shadows of the war, they put their hearts and souls in discovering Joachim's past life. Aude Léa Rapin's feature debut premiered in the Séances Spéciales at the Semaine de la Critique at Festival de Cannes 2019.

Céline Sciamma : 2019
Portrait de la jeune fille en feu

France, 1760. On an isolated island in Bretagne, Marianne, a painter, is commissioned to do the wedding portrait of Héloïse, a young woman who has just left the convent. Héloïse is a reluctant bride-to-be and Marianne must paint her without her knowing, whilst posing as her hired companion. She observes her by day and secretly paints her at night. Intimacy and attraction grow between the two women as they share Héloïse's first and last moments of freedom, all whilst Marianne paints the portrait that will end it all. A heartbreaking period film told with a distinctly modern feminist energy. Céline Sciamma's feature was awarded the Prix du Scénario, and the Queer Palm when it premiered in competition at Festival de Cannes 2019.

Blaise Harrison : 2019
Particles

Pays de Gex, at the foot of the Jura Mountains on the French-Swiss border. 17-year-old P.A. and his group of friends are in their last year of high school. One hundred metres below ground, the Large Hadron Collider, the most powerful particle accelerator in the world, is crashing protons into each other to recreate the energy conditions of the big bang and detect previously unknown particles. As the area slips into wintertime and P.A. sees the world shifting around him, he starts to observe strange phenomena in the environment, abnormalities in the landscape, tiny alterations in a familiar ecosystem. The changes are imperceptible at first, but gradually his whole world seems to be on the brink. Blaise Harrison's feature debut premiered in competition at the Quinzaine des Réalisateurs at Festival de Cannes 2019.