– The festival’s 4th edition will unspool 23 to 28 June, notably boasting a competition for eight feature films assessed by a jury led by Kristen Stewart
La Chaleur by Stéphane Demoustier
Characterised by “young people who refuse to accept what their youth is becoming”, whose “freedom is won in the most constrained of contexts”, who “are developing their sense of selves through other people’s opinions of them” and who “have a fascinating relationship with fear”, the feature film competition unspooling within the 4th Biarritz Film Festival – Nouvelles Vagues (running 23 to 28 June) is set to be assessed by a jury led by US star Kristen Stewart (with the help of Italy’s Carolina Cavalli, Brit Esmé Creed-Miles, Canada’s Whitney Peak, India’s Ishaan Khatter and French talents Nathan Ambrosioni, Suzy Bemba and Raphaël Quenard).
Standing tall among the eight titles on the agenda are La Chaleur by French director Stéphane Demoustier, La Gradiva by fellow French filmmaker Marine Atlan (awarded the Grand Prize in Cannes’ Critics’ Week), Strawberries by Morocco’s Laïla Marrakchi (acclaimed in Cannes’ Un Certain Regard section) and Animol by English director Ashley Walters (the winner of the FIPRESCI Prize in Berlin’s Perspectives competition). Jostling alongside them are No Good Men by Afghanistan’s Shahrbanoo Sadat (which opened the most recent Berlinale), Congo Boy by Congo’s Rafiki Fariala (which won Best Actor for Bradley Fiomona Dembeasset in the Un Certain Regard section), Teenage Sex and Death at Camp Miasma by US director Jane Schoenbrun (which opened Cannes’ Un Certain Regard section) and Big Girls Don’t Cry by New Zealand’s Paloma Schneideman (unveiled in competition at the Sundance Film Festival).
Stealing focus on the guest list are Marion Cotillard, Xavier Dolan, Isabelle Huppert, Monica Bellucci and international sales agent Vincent Maraval (Goodfellas), who’ll be presenting films of their choosing.
A new section will also see the light of day, entitled Les Nouvelles Vagues du Monde and featuring five films which have turned heads in major festivals and which will be presented by their directors in Biarritz: Blue Heron by Canadian-Hungarian filmmaker Sophy Romvari, Strange River by Spain’s Jaume Claret Muxart, A Family by Dutch director Mees Peijnenburg, Short Summer by Russia’s Nastia Korkia and En Route To by South Korea’s Yoo Jae-in.
A number of premieres likewise dazzle in the line-up, notably relating to the Cannes-screened movies The Black Ball by Spain’s Javier Ambrossi and Javier Calvo (who won Best Directors), Jeanne Herry’s Cannes competitor Another Day, Phuong Mai Nguyen’s animated movie In Waves (which opened Critics’ Week) and Félix de Givry’s Goodbye Cruel World (also discovered in Critics’ Week).
Equally mention-worthy is a competition for eight short films (with Anthony Bajon heading up the jury), an encounter with director Yolande Zauberman, a Young Audience line-up and a number of special screenings primarily revolving around five films unveiled in Cannes. Professional meetings are also on the agenda, alongside two days of debates (one exploring how AI is redefining the future of cinema and the other along the Cinema & Ocean theme).
Last but not least, four projects will battle it out for the Nouvelles Vagues Grant, endowed with 10,000 euros and set to be assigned by a jury composed of Roxane Arnold (Pyramide), Gauthier Lovato (Netflix) and Gustave Shaïmi (Les Films du Losange): Life Is a Beach by Guil Sela (production: Cérémonie and Les Films Norfolk), La Tempête by Victoria Lafaurie and Hector Albouker (Odessa Productions and Cinéfrance Studios), Grâce à Jim by Déborah Lukumuena (Douze Doigts Production) and Drama Queen by Mahaut Adam (Les Films Norfolk and Cérémonie).
(Translated from French)
