Julien Colonna

Julien Colon­na earned a Mas­ters in Social Sci­ences at the Uni­ver­si­ty of Paris IX Dauphine, before study­ing screen­writ­ing and direct­ing sev­er­al short films, includ­ing Con­fes­sion (2015), which shot in the slums of Bangkok and won awards at over 30 inter­na­tion­al film fes­ti­vals. In 2017, his first screen­play Equinox­es was a Sopadin Prize final­ist and a Téléra­ma crit­ics’ pick. His first fea­ture film, The King­dom, shot entire­ly in Cor­si­ca with a large­ly non-pro­fes­sion­al cast, was select­ed for the 2024 Cannes Film Fes­ti­val in the Un Cer­tain Regard cat­e­go­ry. The film was nom­i­nat­ed for the Best First Film César, won the Claude-Chabrol Prize at Reims Polar, and its lead actress Ghju­van­na Benedet­ti received the 2025 Lumière Award for Most Promis­ing Actress. Hav­ing won awards at numer­ous inter­na­tion­al film fes­ti­vals, The King­dom will be dis­trib­uted in the Unit­ed States in the fall. Julien is cur­rent­ly work­ing on sev­er­al projects both in France and abroad.