Eleven projects have been selected in the CNC’s third advance on receipts session of 2023. Shining bright among them is Filmlovers by Arnaud Desplechin, which is set to kick off filming on 17 July in the Hauts de France region. This will be the 13th fiction feature film by the director who has competed seven times in Cannes (in 1992, 1996, 2000, 2008, 2013, 2019, and more recently in 2022 by way of Brother and Sister) and once in Venice (in 2004). Written by Desplechin himself, the film’s plot will centre around the movie theatre from the 1960s to the present day, and its cast include Mathieu Amalric and Françoise Lebrun. Production is steered by Charles Gillibert on behalf of CG Cinéma.

The CNC is also throwing its weight behind And Their Children After Them by Ludovic and Zoran Boukherma (Willy 1^er, Teddy, Year of the Shark), which is an adaptation of Nicolas Mathieu novel of the same name (awarded the Goncourt Prize in 2018) and which is due to commence shooting next month. Production is entrusted to Chi Fou Mi Productions and Trésor Films.

An advance on receipts is also winging its way to Six jours ce printemps-là by Joachim Lafosse (produced by Les Films du Losange alongside Belgium’s Stenola and Luxembourg’s Samsa Film), as well as to Raoul Peck’s documentary Ernest Cole, about the first black, South African freelance photographer at the time of apartheid (produced by Velvet Films).

Four second feature films were also awarded an advance on receipts, including Oxana by Charlène Favier (nominated for the 2022 Best First Film César via Slalom), captained by Rectangle and 2.4.7. Films. Likewise jostling among the lucky few are Tell Her That I Love Her by Romane Bohringer (nominated for the 2019 Best First Film César thanks to In the Move for Love), which is set to be produced by Escazal Films, Magma by Cyprien Vial (who turned heads with Young Tiger in 2014), steered by Dharamsala and Darius Films, and the documentary Par delà les montagnes by the duo composed of Manon Ott (revealed at Visions du Réel in 2018 by way of De cendres et de braises) and Grégory Cohen, which is carried by TS Productions.

Worth a final mention are the three first films set to receive an advance on receipts: Du fuel dans les artères by Pierre Le Gall (a project which spent time at the Angers Workshops as well as in Emergence, and is produced by Ex Nihilo), La Gradiva by Marine Atlan (known as a director of photography), which is steered by Les Films du Poisson, and Christophe Réveille’s documentary Les survivants du Che (Pentacle Productions).