24/06/2024 - Indian director Shuchi Talati’s first feature film grabs the Grand Prize, with Eat The Night, In His Own Image, Night Call and Saoirse Ronan also jostling among the winners

Director Shuchi Talati, awarded the Grand Prize for Girls Will Be Girls, surrounded by the jury (© Jean-Louis Hupé)

Having unspooled between 18 and 23 June with Spanish actress Karla Sofía Gascón as its guest of honour (who was awarded Cannes’ acting trophy alongside three other protagonists for their collective performance in Emilia Perez [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile]), the second edition of the Biarritz Film Festival - Nouvelles Vagues has unveiled its winners, who are all in keeping with the festival’s editorial line which looks to shine a light on young people and newer generations.

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Presided over by French filmmaker Léa Mysius (and further composed of her compatriots Kim Higelin and Vincent Lacoste, Thailand’s Kitty Chicha, American Zoey Deutch, Iran’s Arash Khaksari, Spain’s Manu Rios and China’s Margaret Zhang), the jury awarded its Grand Prize to Girls Will Be Girls [+see also:
film review
film profile] by Indian director Shuchi Talati. This debut feature film - which scooped the Audience Award within Sundance’s World Cinema Dramatic competition back in January - is sold by Luxbox and notably co-produced by French firm Dolce Vita Films and Norway’s Hummelfilm. The movie will be released in French cinemas on 21 August courtesy of Nour Films.

The audacious undertaking Eat The Night [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Caroline Poggi and Jonathan…
film profile], meanwhile, which is the second feature film by the French duo composed of Caroline Poggi and Jonathan Vinel - a movie discovered in Cannes’ Directors’ Fortnight last month - walked away with the Jury Prize and also won over the student jury. The film’s release in France is scheduled for 17 July via Tandem.

Another French title previously unveiled in the Directors’ Fortnight triumphed in Biarritz, courtesy of the main jury who awarded a Special Mention to Thierry de Peretti’s brilliant movie In His Own Image [+see also:
film review
interview: Thierry de Peretti
film profile] (due for release in France on 4 September via Pyramide Distribution). The acting award, for its part, went to American-Irish actress Saoirse Ronan for her performance in The Outrun [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Nora Fingscheidt
film profile] by Germany’s Nora Fingscheidt, a film which screened at Sundance at the beginning of the year, as well as in the Berlinale’s Panorama line-up, and which is due for release in France on 4 October (via UFO Distribution) and in Germany on 7 November (via StudioCanal Deutschland).

The audience, meanwhile, gave their vote to Belgian director Michiel Blanchart’s first feature film Night Call [+see also:
film review
interview: Michiel Blanchart
film profile], which opened the festival in a world premiere and which is due for release in France on 28 August (Gaumont Distribution) and in Belgium on 4 September (Lumière).

The full list of winners is as follows:

Grand Prize
Girls Will Be Girls [+see also:
film review
film profile] - Shuchi Talati (India/France/USA/Norway)

Jury Prize
Eat The Night [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Caroline Poggi and Jonathan…
film profile] - Caroline Poggi and Jonathan Vinel (France)

Special Mention
In His Own Image [+see also:
film review
interview: Thierry de Peretti
film profile] - Thierry de Peretti (France)

Acting Award
Saoirse Ronan - The Outrun [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Nora Fingscheidt
film profile] (UK/Germany)

Student Jury Prize
Eat The Night - Caroline Poggi and Jonathan Vinel

Pass Culture Jury Prize
The Outrun - Nora Fingscheidt

Audience Award
Night Call [+see also:
film review
interview: Michiel Blanchart
film profile] - Michiel Blanchart (Belgium/France)

(Translated from French)