International Competition Award: FUCK THE POLIS by Rita Azevedo Gomes

Georges de Beauregard International Award: FRÍO METAL by Clemente Castor

Special mention of the International Competition Jury: COBRE by Nicolás Pereda

French Competition Award: BONNE JOURNÉE by Pauline Bastard

Georges de Beauregard National Award: HORS-CHAMP, LES OMBRES by Anna Dubosc, Gustavo de Mattos Jahn

Cnap (National Centre for Visual Arts) Award: DES MILLÉNAIRES D’ABSENCE by Philippe Rouy

Special mention of the Cnap (National Centre for Visual Arts) Jury: L’AMOUR SUR LE CHEMIN DES RONCETTES by Sophie Roger

First Film Award: FANTAISIE by Isabel Pagliai

Special mention of the First Film Competition Jury: LOS CRUCES by Julián Galay

Special mention of the First Film Competition Jury: SI NOUS HABITONS UN ÉCLAIR by Louise Chevillotte

Claudia Cardinale Foundation Award: FERNLICHT by Johanna Schorn Kalinsky

Cine+ Distribution support Award in partnership with GNCR: MORTE E VIDA MADALENA by Guto Parente

Flash Competition Award: گل‌های شب ِدریا by Maryam Tafakory

Special mention of the Flash Competition Jury: A PRELUDE by Wendelien van Oldenborgh

Special mention of the Flash Competition Jury: CONTROL ANATOMY by Mahmoud Alhaj

Special mention of the Flash Competition Jury: LENGUA MUERTA by José Jiménez

Alice Guy Award: ABORTION PARTY by Julia Mellen

Renaud Victor Award: BULAKNA by Leonor Noivo

Special mention of the Renaud Victor Jury: SI NOUS HABITONS UN ÉCLAIR by Louise Chevillotte

High School Award: NEXT LIFE by Tenzin Phuntsog

Special mention of the High School Jury: MIRACULOUS ACCIDENT by Assaf Gruber

The Second Chance School Award: NEXT LIFE by Tenzin Phuntsog

Special mention of the Second Chance School Jury: JACOB’S HOUSE by Lucas Kane

Audience Award: LA JUVENTUD ES UNA ISLA by Louise Ernandez

International Competition Award: FUCK THE POLIS by Rita Azevedo Gomes

Georges de Beauregard International Award: FRÍO METAL by Clemente Castor

Special mention of the International Competition Jury: COBRE by Nicolás Pereda

French Competition Award: BONNE JOURNÉE by Pauline Bastard

Georges de Beauregard National Award: HORS-CHAMP, LES OMBRES by Anna Dubosc, Gustavo de Mattos Jahn

Cnap (National Centre for Visual Arts) Award: DES MILLÉNAIRES D’ABSENCE by Philippe Rouy

Special mention of the Cnap (National Centre for Visual Arts) Jury: L’AMOUR SUR LE CHEMIN DES RONCETTES by Sophie Roger

First Film Award: FANTAISIE by Isabel Pagliai

Special mention of the First Film Competition Jury: LOS CRUCES by Julián Galay

Special mention of the First Film Competition Jury: SI NOUS HABITONS UN ÉCLAIR by Louise Chevillotte

Claudia Cardinale Foundation Award: FERNLICHT by Johanna Schorn Kalinsky

Cine+ Distribution support Award in partnership with GNCR: MORTE E VIDA MADALENA by Guto Parente

Flash Competition Award: گل‌های شب ِدریا by Maryam Tafakory

Special mention of the Flash Competition Jury: A PRELUDE by Wendelien van Oldenborgh

Special mention of the Flash Competition Jury: CONTROL ANATOMY by Mahmoud Alhaj

Special mention of the Flash Competition Jury: LENGUA MUERTA by José Jiménez

Alice Guy Award: ABORTION PARTY by Julia Mellen

Renaud Victor Award: BULAKNA by Leonor Noivo

Special mention of the Renaud Victor Jury: SI NOUS HABITONS UN ÉCLAIR by Louise Chevillotte

High School Award: NEXT LIFE by Tenzin Phuntsog

Special mention of the High School Jury: MIRACULOUS ACCIDENT by Assaf Gruber

The Second Chance School Award: NEXT LIFE by Tenzin Phuntsog

Special mention of the Second Chance School Jury: JACOB’S HOUSE by Lucas Kane

Audience Award: LA JUVENTUD ES UNA ISLA by Louise Ernandez

La Limace et l’escargot, The Slug and the Snail

Anne Benhaïem

France, 2024, Color, 57’

Three friends—Pascale Bodet, Bojena Horackova and Anne Benhaïem—are chatting about their film projects at a café terrace. Anne describes to them the film we’re about to see: “Two limping sixty-somethings, a man and a woman, bump into each other in the street and fall over.” Like something out of a Russian doll, her words—and she herself, as a character—come to life on screen at that very moment. What follows is a film that is wistfully Chaplinesque, punctuated by the inscrutable smile of Anne Benhaïem (the slug) and her exchanges with her aristocratic, wavering partner (the snail). A film made up of images that speak—the kind cinema offers us less and less often: the precise caress of bare feet, two seventeenth-century fruit stones (peach and cherry), or the uneven fate—Pascale: “I’m afraid you’re going to say what comes next”—of a Lubitsch-style pyjama for two.

Manuel Asín

Interview

Anne Benhaïem

What are the advantages and challenges for you in being both in front of and behind the camera in this film?

Being the lead actor in your own film offers a privileged perspective on the direction. I’m at the centre of the set, everyone is around me, and I have a direct eye on what each person is doing. Then, when we shoot the scenes, I don’t need to ask myself whether I should act this way or that—I simply do it, and through my performance, I indicate how I want it to be played.
My co-actor (Serge Blazevic) doesn’t know his lines by heart—he half improvises (we did rehearse to mark out where each scene was heading). So, as I’m his interlocutor, I don’t need to direct his performance—I act with him and steer the scene through my own acting.
I think this can only work with a very small crew, where everyone hears and sees what the others are doing—there’s no need to raise one’s voice. I had great trust in the person handling the image, with whom I’d had many conversations. I never went to check a frame, nor did I listen to the sound. Absolute trust. Creative input from all involved.

The film never dramatises the characters’ difficulties—health, money, ageing. Would you say this is because the film is about two people and the bond between them, rather than about one isolated individual?

Yes, I don’t dramatise because I only film the surface of the world; I “materialise small sensations,” as Cézanne put it. I’m interested in the small things that happen in the present, in the mix of perspectives—something can be both dramatic and comic at the same time.
I think it would be the same even if the film focused on a single character: I don’t really like a film to show only one thing, to have only one tone. Except in the realm of absolute sublimity (Mizoguchi or Naruse), which I’m not attempting just yet!

The film’s dialogue is both very natural and very precise. Was any of it written? Did Serge at least receive guidance on the situations to develop in each scene?

There was a script with fully written dialogue. But once I’d decided it would be played by Serge Blazevic, I knew he would improvise. I know him very well, so I know he tends to go off on tangents. I wouldn’t have asked another actor to improvise—I trusted Serge to deliver the dialogue in his own words.
For the girls, there was nothing written, and they didn’t need to know anything in advance. For the ending, I had told them I would ask them to talk about their next film projects.

I find the narrative framework quite surprising—almost like a fable—with the story of the slug and the snail. How did the idea come about to include Pascale Bodet and Bojena Horackova in the film, and to have them speak about their respective upcoming film projects?

The idea of the filmmaker friends came about because I realised I wouldn’t be able to film inside the fire engine, nor in the hospital. So I decided I would tell all that to my friends, who I see regularly. We often talk about our upcoming films, we read each other’s projects.
The idea to include them three times in the film came from intuition, not theory. I took a chance that it would work that way. These scenes weren’t in the original script. I trust my intuitions—when they last for several days! I wanted to pass the baton to them at the end of the film.

Interview by Manuel Asín

Technical sheet

  • Subtitles:
    English
  • Script:
    Anne Benhaïem
  • Photography:
    David Grinberg
  • Editing:
    Anne Benhaïem , Lucie Jego
  • Sound:
    Lise Lebleux, Thomas Fourel
  • Cast:
    Serge Blazevic, Anne Benhaïem , Pascale Bodet , Bojena Horackova
  • Production:
    Anne Benhaïem (Ciné-gato)
  • Contact:
    Anne Benhaïem (Ciné-gato)