24/06/2025 - The French film centre is also throwing its weight behind first feature films by Mathilde Profit, Foued Mansour and Boris Petric

Four projects have been selected within the third 2025 session held the CNC’s first advance on receipts committee (dedicated to first feature films). Standing tall among them is De l’autre côté de l’été by Julie Gourdain, which is based on Audrey Diwan’s novel of the same name. Written by the director, the story revolves around Muriel who buys herself a man 30 years her junior on her sixtieth birthday, in order to enjoy platonic evenings and nights spent together over the course of one year. This strange relationship troubles those around her. Her friends feel both worried and jealous, her daughter realises her mother’s a woman, and the ghost of Muriel’s own mother, which she’d been living with for years, finds herself ostracised by this young man’s presence… Production is steered by Offshore.

The CNC has also singled out Le courage des oiseaux by Mathilde Profit (notably acclaimed for her short film Un adieu, which won the Jean Vigo Prize in 2020 and was nominated at the 2021 Césars). Penned by the filmmaker in league with Julie Debiton, the story follows three women from different generations, three forms of loneliness, three stories of everyday lives. It’s in the Haute Marne region, in a world of agricultural plains and outlying suburbs, that Jeanne, Céline and Nina are living their ritualised lives when the seemingly circular nature of their lives in turned upside down by an unexpected event: the death of a young mother in a road traffic accident. Despite only being distantly affected by this tragic accident, each of them finds themselves shaken by her death. Over the course of the weekend preceding the funeral, the film intertwines these women’s intimate experiences... Production falls to Apache Films and Pan Cinema.

An advance on receipts is also winging its way to Sans verser mes larmes by Foued Mansour. Written by the director, the story focuses on 17-year-old Nina who lives with her grandmother in a working-class neighbourhood. A teen with an assertive temperament, she like 24-year-old Adel, who’s sweet and caring but a soul in disarray. He has a tendency towards petty crime and spends brief spells in prison, until a new sentence leads to his expulsion from the region. It’s inconceivable for Nina, who refuses to be separated from the love of her life. This adolescent in need of a family subsequently takes on a fight which is far beyond her capacities and which changes her forever … Production is steered by Bandini Films.

Last but not least, a CNC advance on receipts has also been granted to Boris Petric’s first documentary feature film project, Sur la Terre comme au ciel (Les Film du Tambour de Soie).

(Translated from French)