The films in Competition at the 52^nd Deauville Festival

13 films this year that shape a Com­pe­ti­tion with ambi­tious artis­tic and eth­i­cal stakes, flirt­ing with love and death, cru­el­ty and ten­der­ness, and engag­ing with the most vibrant gen­res of con­tem­po­rary inde­pen­dent cin­e­ma (from ani­ma­tion to west­erns, pass­ing through com­e­dy and com­ing-of-age movies).

This par­tic­u­lar­ly pow­er­ful selec­tion will cel­e­brate the dark and tel­luric forces of nature, the harm of our indi­vid­u­al­is­tic and dehu­man­ized moder­ni­ty, the rein­ven­tion of love in an imag­i­na­tion of fam­i­ly shat­tered on the shores of moder­ni­ty, the lack of inspi­ra­tion and breath.

From jazzy and/or unbri­dled New York nights to 1990s gay San Fran­cis­co, from today’s deprived Los Ange­les neigh­bor­hoods to post-Civ­il War Wis­con­sin, from post-Covid New Mex­i­co to res­i­den­tial sub­urbs of Flori­da, Ohio and Arkansas, pass­ing through the quirky atmos­phere of a small Geor­gia town, this Com­pe­ti­tion will deliv­er its share of immer­sive forms and nar­ra­tives, in col­or and in black & white, dream­like and goth­ic, bit­ter and ado­les­cent chron­i­cles, dark and satir­i­cal come­dies, peri­od films too, to paint a some­what dis­il­lu­sioned Amer­i­ca in its eter­nal quest for youth, love and free­dom, a bright future and lost illusions.

Aude Hes­bert

Fes­ti­val Director

A PRAYER FOR THE DYING

Dara Van Dusen

- 1^st film
— French premiere

CLUB KID

Jor­dan Firstman

- 1^st film

COMPANY

Casey Affleck

- French premiere

EVERYBODY DIGS BILL EVANS

Grant Gee

- 1^st film
— French premiere

HERE I’M ALIVE

Joshua Z. Weinstein

- French premiere

I’LL BE GONE IN JUNE

Katha­ri­na Rivilis

- 1^st film

IF I GO WILL THEY MISS ME

Wal­ter Thompson-Hernández

- French premiere

MÉLI-MÉLO

Leah Nel­son

- 1^st film

MOUSE

Kel­ly O’Sullivan

- French premiere

PARTY USA

Jared Sprouse

- French premiere

QUEEN AT SEA

Lance Ham­mer

- French premiere

TEST

Sam McConnell

- 1^st film
— French premiere

THE LIBERATION OF RITA COOPER

Guy Nat­tiv

- French premiere