03/07/2025 - The French filmmaker has cast an entire group of non-professional actors in her feature debut, which is being staged by Les Quatre Cents Films and sold by Paradise City Sales

Director Margaux Elouagari

Since 16 June, Margaux Elouagari, who turned heads with her short films La Ducasse (in the national competition at Clermont-Ferrand in 2021) and Princesses (in the international and national competition at Clermont-Ferrand in 2021), has been in the North of France shooting her feature debut, Nouveau monde (lit. “New World”). All of the actors are non-professionals, who were picked following an unofficial casting process.

Penned by the director, the script (which won the Coup de Cœur Award from jury chair Alice Diop at the 2024 Screenplay Awards) revolves around ten-year-old boy Soso, living alone with his grandmother Monique, who is wallowing in debt. When the neighbourhood’s principal drug runner is forced into hiding, Soso tries to get closer to the trafficker’s lonely mother, Nadia, in order to get his hands on the money left behind by her son…

Nouveau monde is being produced by Hannah Taïeb for Les Quatre Cents Films (which was also behind the filmmaker’s two shorts) and co-produced by Pictanovo Région Hauts-de-France. Having been pre-purchased by Canal+ and Ciné+, the feature has also secured support via the CNC’s advance on receipts, the Provence-Alpes-Côte-d'Azur region (for its post-production) and the Cinécap Sofica. The seven-week shoot will take place in Denain and Wallers until 1 August, with Elio Balézeaux (Holy Cow [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Louise Courvoisier
film profile]) in charge of the cinematography. As a reminder, the project also took part in Arras Days and the Angers Workshops. The international sales will be entrusted to Paradise City Sales, and the distribution in French theatres will be handled by Tandem.

(Translated from French)