The second selection committee of 2025 held by Arte France Cinéma (overseen by Olivier Père) has committed to co-producing and pre-purchasing five projects.

Stealing focus among these is All of the Sudden by Japan’s Ryûsuke Hamaguchi (awarded 2022’s Oscar for Best International Film and 2021’s Best Screenplay trophy in Cannes for Drive My Car, as well as Berlin’s 2021 Grand Prize for Wheel of Fortune and Fantasy and Venice’s 2023 Grand Prize for Evil Does Not Exist), on which filming kicks off today, toplined by Belgium’s Virginie Efira (the winner of the 2023 César for Best Actress, nominated an additional five times since 2017, and also starring in A Private Life [+leggi anche:
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scheda film] this year) and Japan’s Tao Okamoto (revealed in The Wolverine). Written by the director in league with French-Japanese talent Léa Le Dimna, the story sees Marie-Lou - who runs a nursing home in the Parisian suburbs - attempting to introduce an innovative and highly humane approach to caregiving, in spite of resistance. A surprise encounter with a Japanese film director living with cancer, called Mari, upsets her plans. United by a shared vision and their attachment to one another’s language, the two women embark upon a deep friendship which not only transforms their outlook on life, but also that of an entire establishment… Production is overseen by Parisian firm Cinéfrance Studios, Japanese outfits Shirous Office and Bitters End, Belgium firm Tarantula and Germany’s Heimat Films. Filming will continue until 6 September 2025 in Paris and Kyoto.

Arte France Cinéma is also throwing its weight behind Une femme aujourd’hui by Robert Guédiguian, an Agat Films production due to be shot over an eight-week period in Marseille, starting 1 September, involving the filmmaker’s usual troupe of actors (Ariane Ascaride, Marilou Aussilloux, Jean-Pierre Darroussin, Grégoire Leprince-Ringuet, Gérard Meylan, Lola Naymark and Robinson Stévenin) and telling the story of a young woman who believes she’s emancipated, with her easy and carefree life, until a violent attack reveals her freedom was just a veneer…

Standing equally tall among the selected projects are Warrior by Ukraine’s Masha Kondakova (a first feature co-scripted by the director in league with Pascal Marc, awarded a Special Mention by the 2023 Coprocity Prize – read our news – and produced by French firms Capricci Production and Wild West together with Romania’s Micro Film), which is due to commence filming in the first semester of 2026, and Dora by South Korea’s July Jung (well-received in Cannes’ Un Certain Regard section in 2014 via A Girl at My Door and in Critics’ Week 2022 via About Kim Sohee), which will revisit the famous eponymous case of hysteria analysed by Freud, with filming scheduled to unspool 4 August to 19 September in South Korea, and production entrusted to French firm The French Connection, South Korea’s RedPeter Films and Luxembourg’s Les Films Fauves.

Last but not least, Arte France Cinéma is also supporting 1949/Vaterland (working title) by Poland’s Pawel Pawlikowski (who won an Oscar via Ida [+leggi anche:
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intervista: Pawel Pawlikowski
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scheda film] and a Best Director trophy in Cannes in 2018, and was nominated for three Oscars in 2019 thanks to Cold War [+leggi anche:
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Q&A: Pawel Pawlikowski
scheda film]). Already enjoying backing from entities including the Polish Film Institute and Eurimages, the film has been adapted by the director in league with Henk Handloegten, based on Colm Toibin’s novel The Magician, and will be a fictionalised biography of Thomas Mann with production falling to Poland (Extreme Emotions Bis), Germany (Nine Hours), France and Italy.

For the record, Arte France Cinéma is also lending a hand to upcoming films by Andreï Zviaguintsev, Kornél Mundruczó, Albert Serra, Claire Denis, Kaouther Ben Hania, Hlynur Pálmason, Kantemir Balagov, Arnaud Desplechin, Mia Hansen-Løve, Laura Samani, Mikhaël Hers, Yann Gonzalez, Charline Bourgeois-Tacquet, Blerta Basholli, Élise Girard, Justyna Tafel, Zou Jing, Chabname Zaria, Marine Atlan, Jérémy Comte, Hu Wei, Vincent Le Port, Wesley Rodrigues and the duo Romain Renard and Fursy Teyssier.