17/05/2026 - CANNES 2026: Katharina Rivilis crafts a marvelous debut film based on her own experience as an exchange student in New Mexico

Every departure begins at the point of arrival. German director Katharina Rivilis exemplifies this self-actualising nostalgia through the contrast between the title of her feature debut, I'll Be Gone in June, and its opening scene, in which 16-year-old Franny (newcomer Naomi Cosma) arrives at a small airport in Las Cruces. As an exchange student from Brandenburg, Germany, she is a long way from home, yet in her calm demeanour and wide-eyed curiosity one can already glimpse the reflection of Las Cruces — a sleepy desert town near the Mexican border. Its bright blue skies and sunburnt yellow hills hold a promise for the young and adventurous — something Rivilis knows well, having based I'll Be Gone in June, which premieres in the Cannes Film Festival’s Un Certain Regard section, on her own experience as an exchange student in Las Cruces.

Setting her film in 2001 and filtering it through the eyes of a German teenager likely the same age as her post-unification homeland fashions I’ll Be Gone in June into a commentary on the newfound mobility that so distinctly characterised European cinema of the 2000s. Yet Rivilis’s perspective feels fresh and decisively anti-nostalgic. The film lives and breathes on its own, untethered from its predecessors. Stylistically, it shares affinities with American directors such as Kelly Reichardt and brothers Bill and Turner Ross, whose marginalised characters feel so authentic that the worlds they inhabit verge on documentary. Here, the landscape of Las Cruces is rendered with even greater immediacy through Giulia Schelhas’ camera work (Schelhas having previously assisted Angela Schanelec) capturing the stark contours of young adulthood, where every detail not only matters, but carries emotion.

The magic of Las Cruces and the desert is palpable in sumptuous wide shots of dusty terracotta-red roads and luminous pink sunsets, forming a vacuum where everything is heightened and every encounter is significant. Initially shy, Franny quickly makes friends both at school and beyond, assembling a chorus of teenage girls able to share the strange and bittersweet realities of growing up. Then, of course, comes 9/11, shattering the illusion of togetherness, with its aftermath — and the War on Terror — shaping the future in ways Franny cannot yet comprehend. Despite this, the film urges us to slow down and allow her to remain just a teenager for a little while longer.

Two elements are ever-present in the film: the police officers and Franny’s camera, the latter so often lending its perspective to the film that it eventually establishes itself as the primary viewpoint. At the start, it clearly takes the place of Franny’s direct perspective, but as the film progresses, it becomes unclear exactly who the camera belongs to. Often, the camera lingers on Franny’s face, allowing the viewer to observe the waves of emotion passing through her, revealing only a few wrinkles and a fleeting glance, as if the projections of others bounce off her without ever sticking. Neither panic nor anxiety are her own, yet she allows them to wash over her in a way that preserves the remnants of her childlike wonder.

As is customary in stories about teenagers, there is an all-consuming love interest and a gravitational shift, and in Franny’s case, that is the enigmatic and very charming Elliot (David Flores), luring her out of the safe circle of her girlfriends. It’s a smooth transition from one object of affection to another, thanks to a finely-tuned script, as we see her orbit contracting and expanding again when the inevitable disappointment comes. Rivilis makes it clear that Franny’s perception of time is emotional, not historical (i.e. post-9/11), and that misalignment ensures the film has room to breathe. As a result, we, too, understand that the pull of young love and finding a place to belong outweighs the nationwide anxiety; yet, that nascent worry must eventually grow, entwined with the memories of a time before the loss.

I’ll Be Gone in June was produced by Road Movies Gbmh (Germany), in co-production with 8Horses (Switzerland) and Wolfskind Films (Germany). Luxbox handles international sales.