Four projects have been selected as part of the fifth and final 2025 session of the CNC's first advance-on-receipts committee (dedicated to debut features).

Standing out among the chosen few is J’ai attrapé un esprit by Julien Silloray (in the national competition at Clermont-Ferrand in 2020 with Mortenol and in 2016 with Féfé limbé, winning the Special Jury Prize and the Best Actor Award). The story, written by the director, is set in Guadeloupe in 2020. Boboy, aged 15, lives in a dysfunctional family: his father and mother no longer get along. Boboy takes his father’s side. He’s a "true Guadeloupean", someone he wants to please and emulate, while his mum, a Haitian who arrived illegally some 20 years earlier, is a pariah in this society. The two men blame her for everything: her origins, her beliefs, her way of life. After yet another argument, when his mother leaves the family home, Boboy sets off to find her. But to track her down, he’ll have to open himself up to a world he has so far rejected... The production is being staged by Geko Films.

An advance on receipts has also been awarded to Mais la mer elle s’invente pas by Ingrid Chikhaoui (in national competition at Clermont-Ferrand in 2022 with Three Grains of Coarse Salt). Written by the director together with Aude Thuries and Clara Bourreau, the story is set in August 1999 on the Atlantic coast. Judith, 11, is diligently gearing up to survive the Y2K bug, as her father, away on a scientific mission, taught her. When her mother, Estelle, turns the holidays on this spectacular coastline into a surprise relocation, Judith reclaims an old fishing hut and turns it into a fortress, a refuge against the chaos of a world slipping from her grasp. In the face of the winter’s unforeseen disasters, despite unspoken truths, scars and illusions, mother and daughter each try, in their own way, to become a family again… Les Films Norfolk is steering the production.

The CNC will also back Kyushu Moon by Swiss-Argentinian-Belgian helmer Stéphanie Argerich, who penned the screenplay with Antoine Russbach and Elisa Shua Dusapin. The synopsis goes as follows: she is divorced and doesn’t speak Japanese. He is a virgin and doesn’t speak French. Will they manage to grow closer and overcome their loneliness? It’s worth noting that Italian actress Alba Rohrwacher is expected to feature in the cast of this production being staged by Swiss outfit Intermezzo Films and French company Les Films du Bélier.

Finally, an advance on receipts will go to Ce qui me mène à toi by Khalil Cherti, who teamed up with Simon Serna to co-write a screenplay on the subject of assisted reproductive technology, with Kazak Productions shepherding the project.