It’s a debut solo feature debut film we’ve been tracking after French filmmaker Lila Pinell claimed the Grand Prix prize at the Prix du Scénario 2025 back in February, and managed to snag producers in Ecce Films’ Emmanuel Chaumet and CG Cinéma’s Charles Gilibert. Shana grabbed the top prize for the Fondation Gan last week and moved into production in that same time frame. Pretty remarkable start to the proceedings. We learned that Eva Huault (returning to the character she played in the short), Sékouba Doucouré, vet actress Noémie Lvovsky, Inès Trabendo, Agnès Host, Inès Anane, Jacky Abdillah, Lalla Rami populate the cast. We think this might be in the mix for Cannes next year. Production will take place for six weeks. Huault had two bit parts in a pair of films that were in the Critics’ Week this year in Alice Douard’s Love Letters and Martin Jauvat’s Baise-en-ville.
Pinell’s 2017 feature debut Kiss and Cry (premiered at the ACID section in Cannes) and won the Best Screenplay Award at the Torino Film Festival, and then she claimed the prestigious Jean Vigo Prize for her medium-length fiction film Le Roi David – the themes of that film will be transferred onto this feature. Here is the synopsis: Shana, in her early thirties, navigates day jobs, drug deals, and an impossible love affair with a toxic thug, Moses. To make matters worse, her Moroccan Jewish grandmother has just passed away, leaving her only inheritance a family ring with mysterious powers. Thus begins a series of misadventures for the young heroine, at the end of which she may finally be able to reconcile with herself.
