Samir Guesmi on the stage © Yohan BONNET / AFP
The Official Selection 2020 from the Festival de Cannes was well-represented at the Francophone film festival in Angoulême from 28 August to 2 September, with a dozen films, five of which were in Competition under the chairmanship of Gustave Kervern and Benoît Delépine, and the co-chairmanship of Elsa Zylberstein.
With filled seats and enthusiastic spectators, this 13th edition appears to have heralded a welcomed return to cinema screenings. And there was further reason to celebrate with great praise for Samir Guesmi’s 1st film IBRAHIM, which received four awards including the Valois de diamant for Best Film as well as Best Director, Best Screenplay and Best Music.
The film distributed by Le Pacte will be released in cinemas 9 December.
The Audience Award was presented to UN TRIOMPHE (THE BIG HIT) by Emmanuel Courcol, starring Kad Merad, which also won the award for Best Actor shared between Sofian Khammes and Pierre Lottin.
Distributed by Memento Films, the film will be released in cinemas 6 January 2021.
And lastly, Charlène Favier’s first feature film SLALOM shows a promising start after receiving the Valois Magelis, which was awarded by Francophone students.
Distributed by Jour2fête, the film will be released in cinemas 4 November.
The full list of award winners:
The Valois de diamant went to Ibrahim by Samir Guesmi (France)
The Audience Award went to Un Triomphe/The Big Hit by Emmanuel Courcol (France)
The Valois Magelis, awarded by Francophone students, went to Slalom by Charlène Favier (France, Belgium)
Best Music went to Raphaël Eligoulachvili for Ibrahim (France)
Best Screenplay went to Samir Guesmi for Ibrahim (France)
Best Actress went to Isabelle Kabano for Small Country: An African Childhood (France)
Best Actor went to Sofian Khammes and Pierre Lottin for Un Triomphe/The Big Hit (France)
Best Director went to Samir Guesmi for Ibrahim (France)
The Valois René Laloux for Best Short Film went to Machini by Tétshim and Frank Mukunday (The Republic of the Congo, Belgium) and The Great Malaise by Catherine Lepage (Canada)
