While the Cannes Film Festival 2025 is happening, so too are the independent sidebars: Directors’ Fortnight and Critics’ Week. We told you about the films within the official Cannes Film Festival program the other day. In this article, we tell you about the French language films in both of these sidebars.
DIRECTORS’ FORTNIGHT 2025
Running from 14-24 May 2005, the Directors’ Fortnight “is non-competitive; it brings together short, medium- and feature-length films, fiction and non-fiction, live action and animation. Only one principle guides our selection: a filmmaker’s attendance to mise en scene, and their unique mode of artistic expression.”
“While the Fortnight is first and foremost a place for discovering new talent, we remain sensitive to bold works by established filmmakers.“
Although the Directors’ Fortnight is non-competitive, it has a prize: the Carrosse d’Or which “pays tribute to a filmmaker who has left their mark on the history of cinema.” Films showing within the Directors’ Fortnight are also eligible, together with films in the Critics Week and the Cannes Film Festival, for the Caméra d’Or a prize for a “first film shown at the Festival de Cannes, whose qualities emphasise the need to encourage the director to undertake a second film.”
The French-language films at the Directors’ Fortnight 2025 are…
Amour apocalypse (Peak Everything)
Director: Anne ÉMOND
Country: Canada
Adam, 45, is a kind-hearted kennel-owner. To help combat his eco-anxiety, Adam orders a therapeutic solar lamp. Through the lamp’s supplier’s technical support line, he meets Tina, a woman with a voice that soothes all of his worries. This unexpected encounter changes everything: earth trembles, and hearts explode…
Cast: Patrick Hivon (Ravenous, The Night Logan Woke Up, Babysitter) Piper Perabo (Coyote Ugly, Yellowstone), Gilles Renaud (Mémoires vives, Temps dur, Une journée en taxi)
Classe moyenne (The Party’s Over)
Director : Antony CORDIER
Country : France
Cast: Laurent Lafitte (also in The Richest Woman in the World at Cannes Film Festival, Sarah Bernhardt, la divine, Everybody loves Jeanne), Élodie Bouchez (also in Enzo below, All your faces, Beating Hearts), Ramzy Bedia (the series Of Money and Blood, Men on the verge of a nervous breakdown) Laure Calamy (Full Time, How to make a killing, the series Call my Agent), Sami Outalbali (Lucky Winners, November, A Tale of love and desire), Noée Abita (The Passengers of the Night, My Summer with Irene), Mahia Zrouki (A Tale of Love and Desire, Stillwater)
Mehdi had planned to spend a quiet summer in his in-laws’ sumptuous home. But as soon as he arrives, a conflict breaks out between his girlfriend’s family and the villa’s janitor couple. As Mehdi comes from a modest background, he thinks he can lead the negotiations between the two parties and bring everyone back to their senses. But things start to escalate…
Enzo
Directors: Laurent CANTET and Robin CAMPILLO
Countries: France, Italy, Belgium
Cast: Eloy Pohu, Pierfrancesco Favino, Élodie Bouchez (also in The Party’s Over above, All your faces, Beating Hearts), Maksym Slivinskyi
Enzo, 16, defies his bourgeois family’s expectations by starting a masonry apprenticeship, a path far removed from the prestigious life they had envisioned for him. In their chic villa in the sun-drenched South of France, tensions simmer as relentless questions and pressures weigh on Enzo’s future and dreams. On the construction sites, however, Vlad, a charismatic Ukrainian colleague, shakes up Enzo’s world and opens the door to unexpected possibilities.
THIS FILM IS SHOWING AT SYDNEY FILM FESTIVAL 2025
(Sorry we could not find a subtitled version)
Indomptables (Untamable)
Director: Thomas NGIJOL
Country: France
Cast: Thomas Ngijol (Fratè), Danilo Melande (Moto Taxi – Bendskins, Sadrack), Bienvenu Mvoe, Thérèse Ngono (Au bout des larmes, L’accord)
Yaoundé, Inspector Billong investigates the murder of a police officer. On the field and in his household, he struggles to maintain order. Entangled in his morals and traditions, he approaches the breaking point.
L’Engloutie (The Girl in the Snow)
Director : Louise HÉMON
Country: France
In competition for the Caméra d’Or Award
Cast: Galatea Bellugi (Keeper, Junkyard Dog), Matthieu Lucci (The Workshop, La fille d’Albino Rodrigue, Vultures), Samuel Kircher (also in Wild Foxes below), Oscar Pons, Sharif Andoura (The French Dispatch, Coup de Chance, Le Danger, and the series Carême)
On a stormy night, Aimée, a young Republican schoolteacher, arrives in a snowy hamlet on the edge of the Alps. Despite the mistrust of the inhabitants, she is determined to shed light on their dark beliefs. As she blends into the life of the community, a sensual vertigo grows within her.
La danse des renards (Wild Foxes)
Director: Valéry CARNOY
Belgium, France
In competition for the Caméra d’Or Award
Cast: Samuel Kircher (also in The Girl in the Snow above), Fayçal Anaflous, Frédéric Clou (Ganglands, The Benefit of the Doubt, The Eavesdropper). Jef Jacobs (Jeunes Mères), Anna Heckel, Jean-Baptiste Durand (also in Her will be done below)
At a sports boarding school, talented young boxer Camille narrowly survives a fatal accident, saved by his best friend Matteo. After a swift recovery, an inexplicable pain gradually takes hold of him, threatening his dreams of greatness and his relationship with the team. In the ring and in a man’s world, there’s no room for weakness.
La mort n’existe pas (Death Does Not Exist)
Director: Félix DUFOUR-LAPERRIÈRE
Countries : Canada, France
Cast : The voices of Zeneb Blanchet, Karelle Tremblay, Mattis Savard-Verhoeven, Barbara Ulrich, Françoise L.
After a failed armed attack on wealthy landowners, Hélène abandons her companions and flees into the forest. Manon, one of her friends and accomplices, returns to haunt her. Hélène has to revisit her convictions and choices, in a valley where metamorphoses and great upheavals disrupt the natural order of things.
Les Filles désir (The Girls We Want)
Director: Prïncia CAR
Country : France
In competition for the Caméra d’Or Award
Cast: Housam Mohamed (La Poudre, Barcelona), Leïa Haïchour (La Poudre, Barcelona), Lou Anna Hamon
Marseille, the holidays. Omar, 20, oversees the children summer camp with his longtime friends. The adolescents are full of dreams, principles, and prejudices. When Carmen returns after years being away, the group dynamic is put to the test. In a group where boys view girls as whore to fuck or chicks to marry and where reputation is everything, the electric and free spirit Carmen triggers everyone to question his own belief, desire, and sexuality.
Que ma volonté soit faite (Her Will Be Done)
Director: Julia KOWALSKI
Countries : France, Poland
Cast: Maria Wróbel (Lesson Plan, Hela), Roxane Mesquida (Fat Girl, Kaboom, the series Gossip Girl), Wojciech Skibiński (Le retour d’Arsène Lupin, Tanie pieniadze, Ziarno prawdy), Kuba Dyniewicz, Przemysław Przestrzelski, Raphaël Thiéry (Poor Things, The Dreamer) Jean-Baptiste Durand (also in The Wild Fox above), Eva Lallier Juan (Courted, Angry Annie)
Nawojka, 20, dreams of escaping her harsh life working at the family farm. Under the influence of the free-spirited Sandra, Naw experiences trance-like episodes and strange powers, just like her dead mother before her…
CRITICS WEEK 2025
From 14 -22 May, Critics Week 2025 has been on, alongside the Cannes Film Festival. It’s focus is on discovering new talents, revealing first and second feature films. Jacques Audiard, Alejandro González Iñarritu, Ken Loach, François Ozon, Wong Kar Wai or in more recent years César Augusto Acevedo, Julia Ducournau, David R. Mitchell, Santiago Mitre, Jeff Nichols and Rebecca Zlotowski are all directors that were discovered by Critics Week.
Unlike the Directors’ Fortnight, the Critics Week has its own prizes. the Grand Prize and the French Touch Prize of the Jury for feature films, the Leitz Cine Discovery Prize for short films and the Louis Roederer Foundation Rising Star Award that highlights a male or female acting performance in one of the films in competition. Their partners also give awards: the Gan Foundation Award for Distribution, the SACD Award, the Canal+ Award for short film. The selected debut feature films also compete for the Caméra d’or at the Cannes Film Festival.
Among the films in the program are five French language films, as well as a French production without dialogue, which we detail below.
IN COMPETITION
Kika
Director: Alexe Poukine
Countries: Belgium, France
Language: French
Cast: Manon Clavel (The Truth, Mother and Son) Ethelle Gonzalez Lardued (Lads, Amal), Makita Samba (Paris, 13th District, No Limit, The Bunker Game), Suzanne Elbaz, Anaël Snoek, Thomas Coumans (In the arms of my enemy, Transfert, Arrêtez-moi), Kadija Leclere (The Bag of Flour, Sarah, Mr. Nobody), Bernard Blancan (The Count of Monte-Cristo, Days of Glory)
While pregnant with her second child, Kika faces the sudden death of her partner. Totally heartbroken, and broke, she sets her priorities straight : 1. make money fast 2. stay strong. Dirty underwear, dildos and neurotic parents will unexpectedly help.
Nino – Winner of the Louis Roederer Foundation Rising Star Award at Critics Week 2025
Director: Pauline Loquès
Country: France
Language: French
Cast: Théodore Pellerin (Genesis, Never Rarely Sometimes Always, On Becoming a God in Central Florida), William Lebghil (The Freshmen, C’est la vie), Salomé Dewaels, and Jeanne Balibar (Les Misérables, Cold War)
In three days, Nino will face a major challenge. But first, his doctors have assigned him two vital tasks. Two missions that will lead the young man on a journey through Paris, compelling him to reconnect with the world – and himself.
SPECIAL SCREENINGS
L’interet d’Adam (Adam’s sake)
Director: Laura Wandel
Countries: Belgium, France
Special screening: Opening film
Cast: Léa Drucker (also in Case 137 at Cannes Film Festival 2025, Last Summer, The Colours of Fire, Unbelievable but true), Anamaria Vartolomei (Being Maria, The Happening), Jules Delsart, Alex Descas, (The Limits of Control, Coffee and Cigarettes, Trouble Every Day), Laurent Capelluto (This Life of Mine, Fils Unique, The Clearstream Affair)
Following a court ruling, four-year-old Adam is hospitalised for malnutrition. Lucy, the head nurse, allows Adam’s mother to stay past the court-mandated visiting hours. Complications ensue when the mother, once again, refuses to leave her son’s bedside. For the sake of the child, Lucy will do anything to help this mother in distress.
Baise-en-ville
Director: Martin Jauvat
Country: France
Cast: Martin Jauvat (Grand Paris Express, Mozeb), Emmanuelle Bercot (My King, Polisse, Clement), William Lebghil (The Freshmen, C’est la vie, All about Eve), Sébastien Chassagne (Irresponsible, Une belle histoire, Transferts), Anaïde Rozam (Culte, Paris 13th district, Iris), Michel Hazanavicius (director of some of Final Cut, The Most Precious of Cargoes (which was part of the school program for this year’s Alliance Française French Film Festival) some of the OSS 117 films), Mahaut Adam (Mon P’tit Papa, Two Friends)
Sprite, 25 years old, must absolutely find a job. To start working, Sprite needs to know how to drive; but to pay his driving lessons, he needs a job. To end this vicious circle, Sprite ends up finding an odd gig: cleaning-up big parties in fancy villas around Paris. But he’s quickly confronted with the hassle of taking public transportation at night in poorly-connected suburbs. Sprite’s driving instructor enrols him on a dating app to score overnight stays, and sleep closer to these villas. The only problem is that Sprite is not a big seducer…
Des preuves d’amour (Love Letters)
Director: Alice Douard
Country: France
Cast: Ella Rumpf (Marguerite’s Theorem), Monia Chokri (Heartbeats, The Nature of Love, A Brother’s Love), and Noémie Lvovsky (Rosalie Blum, How to be a good wife)
Céline is expecting her firstborn. But she’s not the one who’s pregnant. In three months, her wife Nadia will give birth to their daughter. Under the gaze of her friends, her mother, and the law, Céline looks for her place and sense of legitimacy.
Planètes (Dandelion’s Odyssey)
Direcotr: Momoko Seto
Country: France, Belgium
No dialogue
Closing film
Dendelion, Baraban, Léonto and Taraxa – four dandelion achenes that survive from a series of nuclear explosions destroying Earth – are propelled into the cosmos. After crash-landing on an unknown planet, they set out in search of soil where their species might survive. However, they must face countless obstacles: the elements, fauna, flora, the climate.
Which of these films shown at Directors’ Fortnight and Critics’ Week 2025 are you keen to see released in Australia?
Want more film? Check out these articles:
Discover the films in French at Sydney Film Festival 2025
Cannes Film Festival 2025: discover the 26 French language films
What to watch on Canal+ Australie in May 2025
Melbourne International Animation Festival 2025: 30 short films from France in the program
What’s leaving SBS on Demand in May 2025: Your last chance for these French films and series
