True to an editorial line which seeks to enhance the visibility of high-quality independent works which often don’t enjoy adequate distribution when demand for movie-release slots is incredibly high, ACID (the French Association for the Distribution of Independent Film) unveiled its 29th programme this morning, which will be unspooling on the Croisette between 7 and 16 July, as part of the 74th Cannes Film Festival. The selection consists of 9 full-length titles (of which seven are world premieres and six are first films), including five works of fiction and four documentaries.

Standing especially tall in the showcase is Vedette [+leggi anche:
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scheda film], the 4th feature-length documentary helmed in tandem by French directors Claudine Bories and Patrice Chagnard (who previously graced the ACID line-up in 2014 with Les règles du jeu [+leggi anche:
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scheda film], which also triumphed at Dok Leizig).

Stealing similar focus are two French debut feature films in the form of Pascal Tagnati’s unusual and very well-executed work I Comete – A Corsican Summer [+leggi anche:
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intervista: Pascal Tagnati
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Another debut fiction feature comes in the form of the Belgian-French production Aya [+leggi anche:
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intervista: Simon Coulibaly Gillard
scheda film] by Simon Coulibaly Gillard, a director who was born in Romania but grew up in France following his adoption and went on to settle in Brussels. The film was shot on an island in the area of Lahou on the Ivory Coast.

Likewise gracing the showcase is Down With the King, the second fiction feature film by Diego Ongaro (co-written by Xabi Molia), a French director living in the US who turned heads at the Sundance Film Festival and who won Karlovy Vary’s Crystal Globe with Bob and the Trees in 2015. The present film revolves around a famous rapper who is sick of the pressures that come with his job, who is supposed to put together a new album tucked away in a house in the middle of nowhere, and who discovers he has an expected taste for the farming life.

Similarly set on American soil is Ghost Song [+leggi anche:
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scheda film], the second feature film by the French documentary-maker Nicolas Peduzzi (who was discovered in 2017 via Southern Belle [+leggi anche:
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Damas in Syria, meanwhile, which is home to the biggest Palestinian refugee camp in the world, is where Abdallah Al-Khatib chose to shoot his debut feature film, the documentary Little Palestine (Diary of a Siege) [+leggi anche:
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scheda film], which unites the production prowess of Lebanon, France and Qatar, and which was presented at the Visions du Réel Festival this year.

Another eye-catching first feature-length documentary is Soy libre [+leggi anche:
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scheda film] by French director Laure Portier, with Chinese filmmaker Lin Wang’s first fiction feature Venus by Water rounding off the 2021 ACID selection.

The full ACID line-up is as follows:

Aya [+leggi anche:
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intervista: Simon Coulibaly Gillard
scheda film] – Simon Coulibaly Gillard (Belgium/France)
I Comete – A Corsican Summer [+leggi anche:
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intervista: Pascal Tagnati
scheda film] – Pascal Tagnati (France)
Down with the King - Diego Ongaro (USA/France)
Ghost Song [+leggi anche:
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scheda film] - Nicolas Peduzzi (France)
Little Palestine (Diary of a Siege) [+leggi anche:
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trailer
scheda film] - Abdallah Al-Khatib (Lebanon/France/Qatar)
Municipale [+leggi anche:
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scheda film] - Thomas Paulot (France)
Soy libre [+leggi anche:
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scheda film] - Laure Portier (France)
Vedette [+leggi anche:
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scheda film] – Claudine Bories, Patrice Chagnard (France)
Venus by Water – Lin Wang (China)