“Twenty Gods” crowned at the Francophone Film Festival

Louise Courvoisier’s first feature film, which depicts the dreams and disappointments of rural youth, won the Valois de Diamant on Sunday, the Festival’s highest distinction, along with the Valois des étudiants francophones. Another big winner, the film “À bicyclette!”, scooped up three trophies.

Two awards in Angoulême for Twenty Gods, the first film by the young director Louise Courvoisier, 28 years old. Presented at Cannes last May, her feature film, which delicately depicts the dreams and disappointments of a youth in the rural world, was crowned Sunday by the Valois de Diamant, the highest distinction at the Francophone Film Festival, with the Valois des étudiants francophones as a bonus.

Shot in the Jura, where the director grew up, the film traces the trajectory of a young man who is a bit lost and one day finds himself forced to take care of his little sister. In an attempt to earn money, he enters the cheese competition for the best comté cheese in the region.

Among the ten films in competition, By bicycle ! is the other big winner of the festival, picking up three Valois: for music, direction and audience. Director Mathias Mlekuz undertakes a long bicycle journey from La Rochelle to Istanbul with a friend, following in the footsteps of his son Youri who committed suicide at the age of 28. “My son was 22 when he made this trip. We are 60 years old, we drink, we eat. Going to Turkey by bike was a desperate act to find my son. I had the hope that the more I went looking for him, the more I would find him,” he wrote.

The Valois for best screenplay was awarded to Laetitia Dosch and Anne-Sophie Bailly for The dog trial (Switzerland-France), the Valois actor to Marco Luraschi in LADS (France-Belgium) by Julien Menanteau and the Valois actress to Mylène Mackay in Tell me why these things are so beautiful (Quebec) by Lyne Charlebois. Finally, the Valois “René Laloux” (best animated short film) was awarded to The knots of destiny by Deborah Chang (France).

The 17th edition of the Angoulême Francophone Film Festival, whose jury this year was chaired by Kristin Scott Thomas, is enjoying growing success, with attendance levels ever higher. Organizers did not yet have exact figures on Sunday, but the 2023 record of 58,000 people was surpassed this year, they said.