13/10/2026 - The French body will also support the debut features by Fabien-Mariano Ortiz, Lou Du Pontavice and María Cristina Pérez González

Four debut-feature projects have been selected in the fourth 2026 session of the first committee of the CNC advance on receipts scheme.

Standing out among the lucky recipients is Docile by Joséphine Darcy-Hopkins, a filmmaker who made a strong impression with the short films Les Dents du Bonheur and Nuage. Penned by the director herself (who co-wrote the screenplay for Inexorable), Jean-Jacques Kahn and Clémence Madeleine-Perdrillat, the script for Docile centres on Madeleine and Eugénie, two sisters aged eight and 12 who, after their mother’s death, are to spend the summer with grandparents they have never met. Luckily, the latter are funny and welcoming. Very quickly, the girls feel at home and believe they have found a family again. But everything is upended the day Paul, the grandfather, gives Madeleine a hairless rat and makes her promise to tell no one about it... Having taken part in the Ateliers d’Angers and earned a Special Mention in the Talent Village of the Les Arcs Film Festival, the project could potentially feature Catherine Frot and Philippe Katerine among the cast. Production is being handled by Vincent Brançon for To Be Continued and by Jean-Christophe Reymond for Kazak Productions. Shooting is slated to take place next summer in the Grand Est region.

An advance on receipts has also been granted to Les fées by Fabien-Mariano Ortiz, with the lead role to be played by Diane Krüger. The screenplay, written by the director, is set in Saint-Denis in the 1980s. Françoise, a seasoned social worker, must, for the first time, urgently find a place for a baby whom no one wants to take in. Amidst overburdened institutions and deeply entrenched prejudices, she has to be cunning, negotiate and circumvent the rules – even if it means crossing the line. But how far can she go without losing her bearings? The film will be produced by Caroline Nataf for Unité.

The CNC has also selected the project Maïa by Lou du Pontavice, who previously won the Discovery Label of the Screenplay Award. Penned by the director (who co-wrote The Restless), the script is pitched as follows: at 17, Maïa, the daughter of a fisherman on Réunion Island, is suffocating. An overweight and hypersensitive teenager, she hides her scars at school behind a brashness that keeps the world at bay. But since the arrival of Samy, a new secondary-school student, her balance has been wavering... Developed by Ninon Chapuis, who has been joined by Silex Films as executive co-producer, the film will shoot on Réunion next spring.

Lastly, an advance on receipts will go to the animated project My Dad the Truck by Colombia's María Cristina Pérez González. The plot (a script penned by the director and Vanessa Chenaie) goes thusly: after losing everything in a devastating flood, Hilda, a curious and brave eight-year-old girl, and her father, Bonifacio, a clumsy and stubborn farmer, embark on a journey to search for a better future in the city. The film will be produced by French company Sacrebleu Productions along with Spanish outfit Sultana Films and Colombian company Pez Dorado Animaciones.

(Translated from French)