Ten first or second feature-length projects in development helmed by up-and-coming filmmakers were presented to more than 130 film professionals (producers, distributors, international sales agents, TV channels, financiers, festivals and so on) today in Paris. Together, they make up the fourth Sélection Talents, an annual event initiated by the Groupe Ouest and the Gan Foundation for Film.

Standing out among those selected is Le Dernier bourreau by Nicolas Birkenstock, who turned heads in 2014 with his feature debut, La Pièce manquante [+leggi anche:
trailer
scheda film]. The story, written by the director together with Carl Lionnet, revolves around Robert, a professional typographer who is appointed as executioner of the French Republic in Paris in the early 1960s, succeeding his father-in-law, whose family has come from a long line of executioners for over 300 years. Having given in to economic and family pressures, Robert soon starts to detest this profession and resolves that his own son will never be an executioner. But his son grows up and, at the age of 16 in the early 1980s, does not see it this way. A struggle ensues between father and son, refereed by the father-in-law…

We should also mention La Camel Driving School by Halima Ouardiri, whose short film Mokhtar enjoyed an excellent festival run, with more than 100 selections (including Toronto, Berlin and Rotterdam) and scooping around 30 Best Film Awards. The screenplay for her feature debut is set in a country in the Middle East; the main character is a 40-year-old widow whose 15-year-old son becomes her legal guardian and begins to domineer her. But she disobeys him and, together with a girlfriend, secretly founds a driving club for women, out in the middle of the desert…

Interestingly, two animated film projects have also been accepted: Bergeronnette by Lucrèce Andreae and Jérémie Moreau, and Eurêka Emilie! by Alix Fizet and Sophie Tavert Macian.

The other projects in the 2018 Sélection Talents are Le bruit des anges by Blandine Jet, Dis-leur que je reste by Ludivine Saës, No Man’s Land by Julie Benegmos, L’arrière monde by Germain Huard, Les sans voix by David Meadeb, and Voir Téhéran by Nicolas Ducray and Diako Yazdani.