Six projects have been selected during the third 2021 session of the CNC’s second advance on receipts committee. Stealing focus among them is Revoir Paris, which will be Alice Winocour’s 4th feature film after Augustine (Critics’ Week 2012), Maryland (also unveiled in Cannes, within the 2015 Un Certain Regard section) and Proxima (awarded a Mention within Toronto’s Platform competition and a Special Jury Prize in San Sebastian 2019). Written by the filmmaker in league with Marcia Romano and Jean-Stéphane Bron, the story revolves around a fifty-something American writer and journalist Kate Anderson. While in Paris writing an article about the dancers at the Crazy Horse club, she finds herself caught up in a terrorist attack. Six months later, Kate returns to Paris to try to pick up her life where she left it. But she can only remember snippets of the event. Her return to the city brings back memories of the man with whom she hid during the attack. Kate racks her memory. Is he still alive? Is she still alive? As she pieces the puzzle back together, the path towards potential happiness reveals itself to Kate… According to persistent rumours, Nicole Kidman is set to play the lead role in this film produced by Dharamsala and Darius Films.

The CNC will also throw its weight behind She Is Conann, which will be Bertrand Mandico’s 3rd feature after The Wild Boys (Venice Critics’ Week 2017, awarded the 2018 Louis-Delluc trophy for Best First Film and nominated in the same category at the 2019 Lumières Awards) and After Blue (recently discovered in competition in Locarno). This female rereading of Robert E. Howard’s story will be produced by Ecce Films and Floréal Films together with Belgium's Novak Productions and Luxembourg’s Films Fauves.

An advance on receipts has also been granted to La nuit du 12 by Dominik Moll, whose story was written by the director alongside Gilles Marchand and Pauline Guéna. This will be the 7th feature by the filmmaker who was notably well-received in competition in Cannes in 2000 and 2005 via Harry, He’s Here to Help and Lemming, out of competition in Berlin in 2016 by way of News from Planet Mars and at Venice’s Giornate degli Autori event in 2019 courtesy of Only the Animals. Production is entrusted to Haut et Court.

The CNC has also selected Last Summer by Catherine Breillat, who has decided to throw herself into a remake of Queen of Hearts by Denmark’s May el-Toukhy. Having previously graced Cannes’ competition line-up in 2007 by way of The Last Mistress, and that of Berlin in 2001 via Fat Girl, this will be Breillat’s first film since Abuse of Weakness (Toronto 2013). Production on her new opus is helmed by SBS Productions.

Likewise in receipt of an advance on receipts, we find Voyages en Italie [+leggi anche:
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scheda film], which will be the 5th feature film by Sophie Letourneur, who has previously turned heads with Chicks – Life at the Ranch (in competition in Rotterdam in 2010), Les Coquillettes (screened out of competition in Locarno in 2012) and Enormous (scooping the Jean Vigo Award in 2020, as well as a Best Actor César nomination in 2021). Production is in the hands of Tourne Films.

The second advance on receipts committee also singled out Alain Raoust’s project Strawberry Fields Forever for support. Co-written by Cécile Vargaftig, this 5th feature film by the director behind The Cage (in competition in Locarno in 2002) and As Happy As Possible (ACID, Cannes 2019) will be produced by Cinéma Defacto and will home in, for the length of a season, on a dozen or so characters residing year-round on a caravan park.

Four debut feature films have similarly been selected by the CNC this summer: Pirates by Myriam Gharbi (production: MPM Films), Banel & Adama by Ramata Sy (La Chauve Souris), and animated projects Sidi Kaba et la porte du retour by Rony Hotin (Special Touch Studio) and Eugène by Anaïs Caura (2P2L and MyFantasy).