15/07/2025 - The film centre is also backing upcoming films by Mikhaël Hers, Stéphane Demoustier, Asghar Farhadi, Lola Quivoron, Noé Debré, Léa Domenach and Rohena Gera

Eight projects have been selected in the third 2025 instances of the second (dedicated to second and third feature films) and third (fourth features and beyond) CNC advance on receipts committees.

Adapted from Charles Baudelaire’s famous poetry collection, Alexandre Aja’s Les Fleurs du mal steals focus in the third committee. According to the director, his first French film following on from his two first features (Furia in 2000 and High Tension in 2003, the latter having screened in Sundance’s Midnight section) and a career boasting eight Anglo-Saxon-produced feature films, will be "a somewhat atypical biopic… the portrait of a human soul. It’s also the story of Jeanne Duval and Charles Baudelaire’s passionate relationship." Estrella Productions and Pathé are involved in this project.

An advance on receipts is also en route to Une autre histoire, which will be Mikhaël Hers’ fifth feature after Memory Lane [+see also:
trailer
film profile] (screened in Locarno’s Cineasti del Presente line-up in 2010), This Summer Feeling [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Mikhaël Hers
film profile] (screened in Rotterdam’s Big Screen competition in 2016), Amanda [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Mikhaël Hers
film profile] (selected for Venice’s Orizzonti section in 2018, and nominated for the 2019 Best Film and Best Actor Lumières awards and Best Actor and Best Music Césars) and The Passengers of the Night [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Mikhaël Hers
film profile] (a Berlin competitor in 2022). Co-written by the director and Maud Ameline, the film will star Bastien Bouillon and Italy’s Alba Rohrwacher in lead roles. Production is steered by Nord-Ouest Films.

Another lucky recipient of CNC support is La chaleur which will be Stéphane Demoustier’s fifth feature after 40-Love [+see also:
trailer
film profile] (screened in Venice’s Critics’ Week in 2014), The Girl With A Bracelet [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Stéphane Demoustier
film profile] (awarded the Best Adapted Screenplay César and the Best Screenplay Lumière in 2021), Borgo [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile] (which won 2025’s Best Actress César for Hafsia Herzi) and The Great Arch [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Stéphane Demoustier
film profile] (well-received back in May in Cannes’ Un Certain Regard section). Adapted from Victor Jestin’s novel of the same name, which is set in modern times and which follows a group of 17-year-olds on a campsite over a 24-hour period, the feature film will be produced by Petit Film.

Last but not least, the third committee has also selected Histoires parallèles by Iran’s Asghar Farhadi (read our article - a Memento production starring Isabelle Huppert, Virginie Efira, Vincent Cassel, Pierre Niney and Adam Bessa).

The second committee notably singled out Eldorado by Lola Quivoron (who won the jury’s Film Crush Prize in Cannes’ Un Certain Regard section in 2022 via Rodéo [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Lola Quivoron and Julie Ledru
film profile]), which the director describes as a film about the mafia and family, the screenplay for which she wrote in league with Antonia Buresi. Production is steered by CG Cinéma.

An advance on receipts is also winging its way to Montjoie by Noé Debré (acclaimed for A Good Jewish Boy [+see also:
film review
film profile]), which promises to be a Get Out-style horror film set in an amusement park… Production will fall to Moonshaker Films.

The CNC is also throwing its weight behind Peau d’homme by Léa Domenach (nominated for the 2024 Best First Film César and Lumière awards via Bernadette [+see also:
trailer
film profile]), which is an adaptation of Hubert and Zanzim’s graphic novel of the same name, whose screenplay was co-penned by the director and Clémence Dargent. The movie will be produced by Karé Productions with Catherine Deneuve, Claire Pommet, Karin Viard, Eddy de Pretto and Laurent Stocker set to grace the cast.

Last but not least, an advance on receipts has also found its way to Stay, a second feature film project directed by India’s Rohena Gera (discovered in Cannes’ 2018 Critics’ Week line-up via Sir [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile]) and produced by Marianne Productions. The story revolves around Sailee, the daughter of a rich Indian family who leaves for Paris to escape the watchful eye of her society. Here, she makes the acquaintance of Léo, a young delivery man with a head full of dreams and with whom she sees an opportunity to assert herself and become someone else. Far away from her home, they seem to be safe from their cultural and social differences, but they soon catch up with them… Filming is scheduled for early 2026.

(Translated from French)