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

Notre père, Our Father

Joris Lachaise

France, 2025, Color, Black and white, 49’

World Premiere

Four sons, seated around the father. All are played by men who are in jail at the Baumettes, who took part in the film’s writing around the theme of patriarchy. Here, it is the handover of the family business, with the resentment it entails, that forms the frame, ultimately torn apart by the return of a final, formerly eloped son. In between the sparse shots, as much a result of shooting constraints as of a decision to film like The Godfather, the actors speak of their own relationship to their characters, to their father, to life in prison: fiction as the initiator of the capacity to articulate disparities between oneself, one’s role, and others, of the always renewed capacity to redefine oneself.

Nathan Letoré

Interview

Joris Lachaise

Your film is shot in the Baumettes prison, with a group of inmates playing a collectively-written script. Could you retrace the genesis of the film?

I was invited by Lieux Fictifs and the Cnap to lead a cinema workshop with a group of 9 inmates in the Beaumettes prison during the winter of 2024. We only had 20 days to meet, find an idea, write, debate, experiment, rehearse and shoot a film together. It was a massive challenge considering the penitentiary context. On top of the time constraint, we also had to compromise with the institutional constraints as well as a particularly heavy political climate. Though I am familiar with this environment from having shot in psychiatric and penitentiary institutions in France and abroad, it felt difficult to make a film in so little time. I thought that the workshop could’ve settled with the goal of the collective experience of a film to be made, but without the obligation of a result, without pressure, without product, and so without a film. Why not do it with a wooden camera? I had in mind Deligny, using the camera tool with groups of young ex-convicts to lead them to learn about a new form of collective sensitivity. Most of the time, they would shoot without a roll, because working towards making a movie was the only real common goal. And yet, with the Baumettes guys, we made Notre père, with a lot of concentration, passion, intensity. And when I see today the emotion and the pride on their faces after the screening, I feel it is the duty of the film to return the energy and the spirit which led to its completion. So it really was worth it to follow through with it.

The actors sometimes allude to the acting work. How did you go about this work on acting with them?

I arrived at the Baumettes as I was witnessing the Mazan rapes trial. So I suggested to the guys—because we were going to be a group of guys, approximately from the same area, working together in a black box for close to a month—to think about the construction of our masculinities. The context of the trial, which I was immersed in, felt like the absolute theatrical space. A grotesque mass of positions and excesses of all the games of social connections. The initial project was to make a film about a powerful man, a generic figure of the patriarchy, by taking turns acting out every role in the courthouse: the judge, the assistant public prosecutor, the plaintiff, the defence, the audience, the press… And the idea literally became a confrontation between a father and his sons at the time of handing over his heritage. A typical tragedy configuration. Actually, it is a little bit like the tale of the king with three sons. Stéphane, who played the father, wanted to draw inspiration from Marlon Brando’s acting in The Godfather, so we really played on the setting imposed on us by this huis-clos by working on the lighting of the faces like in Coppola’s film. The styling of the image became an integral part of the space of fiction and play opened by the filmic device. It is always about this game, which allows us, or forces us, to shift from ourselves and occupy roles other from the ones we are usually assigned.

Your film is part of the films documenting their own production. What determined the choice of play between colour and black and white?

Since life in prison is full of contingencies and we didn’t have a lot of time to work with finesse of writing and fiction play, we established the idea of putting in place a confusing three-level plan to by blending the fictional framework, the preparations where each actor plays to give body and nature to his character, and individual interviews where everyone, at a distance from his character and the group, engages in the intimacy of confession to personal reflections and to a collective realisation. Formally, it was about distinguishing, through a game of alternating between colour and black & white, the spaces and temporalities peculiar to each of these three frameworks which, so closely weaved, cannot be split between fiction and documentary any longer.

Interview by Nathan Letoré

Technical sheet

  • Subtitles:
    English
  • Script:
    Joris Lachaise
  • Photography:
    Joris Lachaise
  • Editing:
    Joris Lachaise
  • Sound:
    Gil Savoy
  • Production:
    Caroline Caccavale (LIEUX FICTIFS)
  • Contact:
    Joris Lachaise