– The French film centre is also throwing its weight behind first feature films by Linda Lô, Gabriel Gauchet and François Daireaux
Director Salomé Da Souza
Four projects have been selected within the third 2026 session of the CNC’s first advance on receipts committee (dedicated to first feature films).
Mon soeur by Salomé Da Souza steals focus among the lucky selectees. Nominated for the 2025 Best Short Film César by way of Boucan and selected for La Fémis’ residency in 2020, the director has written a screenplay (triumphant in the 2023 Cinemed Meetings’ Du Court au Long training programme) which kicks off in a cemetery overlooking the Camargue region in France. In the middle of a crowd, pregnant Barbara is attending the burial of her murdered partner. On the cemetery’s edge, in a police van, her little sister, Naïs, observes the scene, her eyes red from crying and her hands in cuffs: Naïs has pleaded guilty and is being charged with the murder. But behind their loving looks hides the truth surrounding this crime… Production is steered by Les Films du Worso.
An advance on receipts is also winging its way to Chanceuse by French-Senegalese director Linda Lô, who notably took part in the Atlas Workshops. Penned by the director herself, the story takes us to Bordeaux where 4-year-old Lili and her 9-year-old and 20-year-old brothers have been left to their own devices on holiday while their flamboyant mother returns to Gabon, without them, to take care of her restaurant-nightclub. Torn between the desire to return to her lost paradise and the duty to seize an opportunity which would make her mother proud, Lili grows up, avails herself of all possible survival strategies, succeeds, and rediscovers the bright lights of her homeland, Africa… Production is entrusted to Maneki Films who previously oversaw the director’s first short film, C’était bien, in 2023.
Another project joining the lucky few is Gabriel Gauchet’s Incidents, which is produced by Haut et Court. Having studied at the National Film and Television School, the French filmmaker’s back-catalogue includes the short films The Pub, Efecto Domino (victorious in Clermont-Ferrand in 2010), The Mass of Men (in competition in Locarno in 2012), and Z1 (in competition in Locarno in 2013 and awarded the BIFA for Best Short that same year).
Last but not least to receive support is François Daireaux’s first documentary feature film Terciopelo, steered by Les Films d’Ici and Acis Productions.
(Translated from French)
