The radiant Ava Cahen topper of La Semaine de la Critique since 2022 gives us eleven reasons to want to explore the section that the end of the Croisette. Naturally this year the break down offers plenty Caméra d’Or contenders, and surprisingly all four out of competition features are all firs time efforts while two film in competition (which features five films by female filmmakers) offers two sophomore features — one of them is the docu item by Alexander Murphy (formerly titled Road Less Traveled) the neatly titled Tin Castle is about a family with 10 children who are living at the side of a road in a tiny little caravan without any wheels. The other second film—and it’s a major get for the section—is Dua by Blerta Basholli (whom we profiled back in January). We initially thought it would only be ready much later in the year. The film centers on 13-year-old Dua, who struggles to fit into the expectations of womanhood amid rising tensions in Kosovo. As a reminder, the Kosovar Albanian filmmaker’s Hive (2021) was the first Sundance film to win the World Cinema Dramatic Competition’s Grand Jury Prize, Directing Award, and Audience Award. Also in comp, Sara Ishaq‘s The Station (we guessed it would be on the Croisette) was an L’Atelier de la Cinéfondation in 2020 and in a nutshell tells the tale of a women-only fuel station in a segregated war-torn town, she is faced with her 12-year-old brother’s growing desire to break free and become a ‘man’. Marine Atlan‘s La Gradiva (profiled here) in a highly anticipated debut by the great cinematographer who gave us The Girl in the Snow last year. We also have (our accurately predicted!) A Girl Unknown by Chinese filmmaker Zou Jing who was fiercely promoted in the section seeing this project participate Next Step session and seeing her 2021 short Lill Alone be feature there in 2021. Closing out the comp we also have Bruno Santamaría Razo‘s Six Months in the Pink Building and Aina Clotet‘s Viva.
Phuong Mai Nguyen (who we had along the Croisette in our predix) will indeed open the section with In Waves. Will Sharpe and Everything Everywhere All At Once actress Stephanie Hsu were added to the voice cast in what is a Californian surf-themed unconditional first love story animated feature adapted from a popular graphic memoir. Closing the section we find a title that we had been tracking as far back as 2025 (see our Critic’s Week predictions). Félix de Givry‘s Adieu monde cruel stars Milo Machado Graner and Jane Beever — its a project filmed on Super 16 by cinematographer Tara-Jay Bangalter. And sticking to their non-mandate of promoting new voices in French cinema we also find La Frappe by Julien Gaspar-Oliveri and truck stop love in Flesh and Fuel (featuring Alexis Manenti) by Pierre Le Gall. Here are the selections:
The Station – Sara Ishaq
Dua – Blerta Basholli
La Gradiva,” Marine Atlan
A Girl Unknown – Zou Jing
Six Months in the Pink Building – Bruno Santamaría Razo
“Tin Castle – Alexander Murphy
Viva – Aina Clotet
Special Screenings
Adieu monde cruel – Félix de Givry (closing film)
In Waves (opening film) – Phuong Mai Nguyen
La Frappe – Julien Gaspar-Oliveri
Flesh and Fuel – Pierre Le Gall
