FRENCH SCREENPLAY READINGS

Feature film scripts

3 scripts of first feature films will be read in public by professional actors.
In partnership with SACD, the VISIO Foundation, Combier and Mauboussin

Originally from Cameroon, Regina arrives in the “Ghetto”, a shanty town in southern Italy where hundreds of immigrant workers are exploited to harvest tomatoes. It was here, a year earlier, that the tragic fate of her son Isaac was sealed. Discovering the truth about his death will be the only way for Regina to silence her constant, underlying guilt.

The son of an Italian father and a Belgian mother, Mathieu Volpe (Rome, Italy, 1990) grew up in southern Italy before moving to Belgium to study cinema. His short films have been shown at a number of international festivals, including Locarno, Rome, Turin, Dok Leipzig and Fipadoc. Une jeunesse italienne, his first feature-length documentary, made its world premiere at the Festival dei Popoli in November 2022. At the same time, he was developing L'Or rouge, his first feature-length fiction film, produced by Les Films du Fleuve. In 2022, he took part in the Zurich Film Academy and the Idfa Academy. L'Or rouge was developed at Les Ateliers d'Angers in January 2023.

Originally from Côte d'Ivoire, Yves-Marina Gnahoua is a graduate of the Brussels Conservatoire. During her long career in theatre and film, she has played́ for directors such as Guy Cassiers, Denis Mpunga, Jamal Youssfi and Rosa Gasquet. She stars in Nuit noire by Olivier Smolders, Sans frapper by Alexe Poukine, presented at Premiers Plans in 2020, and Baloji's first feature film released last November, Augure, which won the Prix de la Nouvelle Voix at the last Cannes Film Festival.

A graduate of the Centre national supérieur d'art dramatique in Paris, Cyril Gueï has worked on stage in productions by Peter Brook, Irina Brook, Alain Sachs, Eva Doumbia, Hubert Koundé and Habib Naghmouchin. His began his film career with directors such as Yvan Attal, Philippe Garrel and Claude Chabrol, before appearing alongside Dominique Blanc in L’Autre (The Other One) by Patrick Mario Bernard and Pierre Trividic. His subsequent films include Lignes de front (Black Out) by Jean-Christophe Klotz, Grisgris by Mahamat-Saleh Haroun, Les Francis by Fabrice Begotti, Joséphine by Agnès Obadia, À plein temps (Full Time) by Éric Gravel, Comme une actrice (Like an Actress) by Sébastien Bailly and Le Processus de paix (The Peace and Love Process) by Ilan Klipper.

Originally from Cameroon, Frank Onana is a singer, dancer and actor. He won the Best Actor Award at the 2019 Le Court en dit long Festival for his role in Rémi Quoidbach's Forfait. He has also appeared in the series Braqueurs, broadcast on Netflix, as well as in Le Jeune Ahmed by Jean-Pierre and Luc Dardenne, Madeleine Collins by Antoine Barraud and Le Syndrome des amours passées by Ann Sirot and Raphaël Balboni, released last October.

29-year-old Georgia is waiting for her first child. But Georgia is not pregnant. In three months’ time, her wife Jeanne will give birth to their daughter.

After studying art history, Alice Douard joined the directing department of La Fémis. Her graduation film, Extrasystole, was bought by Arte and selected for a number of festivals, including Clermont-Ferrand, Angers and Pantin. She went on to make two other shorts, Les Filles (Girls) and Plein Ouest, exploring themes close to her heart: femininity, the search for an identity within a group, and family relationships. In 2017, Arte commissioned her to direct a one-off entitled Robin. In 2022, she set up Les Films de June with Marie Boitard and directed her fourth short film, L’Attente. She is currently working on her first feature film, Des preuves d'amour, with Apsara Films. Alice Douard also works as a script supervisor on short and feature films.

A graduate of La Fémis, Noémie Lvovsky has co-written with Arnaud Despechin, Philippe Garrel, Valeria Bruni-Tedeschi. Her first feature, Oublie-moi (Forget Me) (1994), was followed by Petites (1997), La Vie ne me fait pas peur (Life Doesn’t Scare Me) (Prix Jean Vigo 1999), Les Sentiments (Prix Louis Delluc 2003), Faut que ça danse ! (2007), Camille redouble (Camille Rewinds) (2012), Demain et tous les autres jours (Tomorrow and Thereafter) (2017) and La Grande Magie (The Great Magic) (2023), screened as the closing film of last year’s Premiers Plans. She has also performed as an actress, notably in Ma femme est une actrice (My Wife is an Actress) by Yvan Attal, Backstage by Emmanuelle Bercot, Actrices (Actresses) by Valeria Bruni-Tedeschi, Les Beaux Gosses et Jacky au royaume des filles (Jacky in the Kingdom of Women) by Riad Sattouf, L’Apollonide (House of Tolerance) by Bertrand Bonello, Les Adieux à la reine (Farewell, My Queen) by Benoît Jacquot, Week-end by Anne Villacèque, Tiens-toi droite (French Dolls) by Katia Lewkowicz, Les Jours venus by Romain Goupil, La Belle Saison (Summertime) by Catherine Corsini, Rosalie Blum by Julien Rappeneau, Un peuple et son roi (One Nation, One King) by Pierre Schoeller, Les Invisibles by Louis-Julien Petit, Deux fils (Father and Sons) by Félix Moati, La Bonne Épouse (How to Be a Good Wife) by Martin Provost, Viens je t’emmène (Nobody’s Hero) by Alain Guiraudie, L’Envol (Scarlet) by Pietro Marcello, Youssef Salem a du succès by Baya Kasmi, Jeanne du Barry by Maïwenn.

After training at the École du Studio d’Asnières and the Cours Florent, Lomane de Dietrich joined the Conservatoire National Supérieur d’Art Dramatique. In 2018, she starred in her first short film, L’Heure bleue, directed by Kahina Le Querrec. In 2019, she played in Emmanuelle Bercot’s De son vivant (Peaceful) and Mathilde Chavanne’s short Simone est partie (Simone is Gone), both of which were selected for the 2021 Cannes Film Festival. In 2020, she played the role of Louise in Le Bal des folles (The Mad Women’s Ball) by Mélanie Laurent, and in 2021 that of Alex in the short film La Machine d’Alex directed by Mael Le Mée. Last July, she starred in Catherine Corsini’s new film, Le Retour (Homecoming), selected in the official competition of the Cannes Film Festival.

Eva Huault played the lead role in Lina Pinell’s medium-length film Le Roi David, which won the Grand Prix at the Clermont-Ferrand Film Festival and the Prix Jean Vigo for short films. The film was also nominated for a César for Best Short Film. This month she will be seen in Noé Debré’s first feature, Le Dernier des Juifs, alongside Agnès Jaoui.

Audrey is a young woman from Lens who dreams of escaping her fate when she meets the Authentiks, a group of Ultras football fans. With them she discovers the fervour of a new world and gradually changes her outlook on herself and the world in ways she never imagined.

Marie Rosselet-Ruiz is a screenwriter and director. She is a graduate of La Résidence de La Fémis and has directed several short films, including Lothar 1999 and Les Reines du mambo (co-directed with Hélène Rosselet-Ruiz). Authentiks, her first feature film, produced by Take Shelter, was co-written by Vincent Mariette and Virginie Legeay. The project, currently in the final stages of development, is a winner of the Ateliers d’Angers 2023 and various writing grants.

Vincent Mariette graduated from the scriptwriting department of La Fémis in 2009. He has made a number of short films, including Cavalier seul and Le Meilleur Ami de l'homme (Man’s Best Friend), which were screened at Premiers Plans. He was a resident at the Ateliers d’Angers in 2010 with his first feature film, Tristesse club. His next film, Les Fauves (Savage), was released in 2019, starring Lily-Rose Depp, Laurent Lafitte and Camille Cottin.

After studying at the Ciné-Sup preparatory class and then at La Fémis (class of 2007, scriptwriting department), Virginie Legeay co-wrote Franco Lolli’s two feature films Gente de bien and Une mère incroyable (Litigante), both of which were screened at Premiers Plans. She also acted as a consultant on the screenplays for Emma Benestan’s Petite sauvage, Jean-Baptiste Durand’s Chien de la casse (Junkyard Dog) and Dania Reymond-Boughenou’s Les Tempêtes. All three were read at Premiers Plans.

Céleste Brunnquell made her film debut in 2019 in Sarah Suco’s Les Éblouis (The Dazzled), for which she was nominated for a César for Best New Actress and won the Best Actress prize at the Sarlat Festival. She then starred alongside Dominique Blanc, Laure Calamy, Doria Tillier and Jacques Weber in L’Origine du mal (The Origin of Evil) by Sébastien Marnier. On television, she played the character of Camille in the series En thérapie by Éric Toledano and Olivier Nakache, broadcast on Arte. In 2022, she played in Fifi by Jeanne Aslan and Paul Saintillan, presented in Competition at Premiers Plans. Last December, she starred in Erwan Le Duc’s La Fille de son père (No Lovve Lost) with Nahuel Pérez Biscayart.

Nina Meurisse made her film debut in Patricia Mazuy’s Saint-Cyr, then went on to work with Agnès Jaoui in Au bout du conte (Under the Rainbow) and Place publique, Sólveig Anspach in Lulu femme nue (Lulul in the Nude) and L’Effet aquatique (The Aquatic Effect), Laurent Larivière in Je suis un soldat (I Am a Soldier) and Stéphane Brizé in Une vie (A Woman’s Life). She played the lead role in Camille by Boris Lojkine and Petite maman (Little Mom) by Céline Sciamma. In 2023, she starred alongside Céline Sallette in Pierre Jolivet’s Les Algues vertes (Green Tide), and Hafsia Herzi in Iris Kaltenbäck’s Le Ravissement (The Rapture).

A student of the Cours Florent and the Conservatoire National Supérieur d’Art Dramatique, Félix Kysyl has appeared on stage and television, notably in Jean-Xavier de Lestrade’s Malaterra, and in films including L’Amant d’un jour (Lover for a Day) by Philippe Garrel, Le Redoutable (Godard Mon Amour) by Michel Hazanavicius, Chocolat by Roschdy Zem, Fatima by Philippe Faucon, Des hommes (Home Front) by Lucas Belvaux, La Tour (Lockdown Tower) by Guillaume Nicloux, Le Consentement (Consent) by Vanessa Filho. This year he will be appearing in Alain Guiraudie’s next film, Miséricorde.