“Dalva” or how to reconnect with childhood after incest

She is 12 years old, even if she sometimes looks 20. Dalva is a very young girl, who takes the public into the dark waters of her story. She was placed after being removed from the control of an incestuous father. The film follows the path of his return to a child’s life. “Dalva tells us that there is hope, that even if we are under the influence, (…) we can always get away with it”explains Zelda Samson, the actress who plays the teenager.

The power of denial

The face of Dalva, a little girl transformed into a woman by her father, is a moving testimony to stolen childhood. “I met children who were in an extremely powerful denial, I think to protect themselves from an insurmountable daily life that they live. And I was deeply surprised by the power of their denial”explains the director, Emmanuelle Nicot.

This first feature film has already won several awards. He notably received three awards during the International Critics’ Week 2022.