Marine Atlan’s ‘La Gradiva’ wins top prize at Cannes Critics’ Week 2026

By Orlando Parfitt2026-05-20T18:17:00+01:00

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La Gradiva

Source: Cannes Film Festival

‘La Gradiva’

Marine Atlan’s La Gradiva has won the Grand Prix in the independent Critics’ Week sidebar at the Cannes Film Festival.

The film was chosen by a jury led by president Payal Kapadia, and fellow jurors Ama Ampadu, Donsaron Kovitvanitcha, Oklou and Theodore Pellerin.

Atlan, whose credits as a cinematographer include 2025’s The Girl In The Snow, makes her feature directing debut with a film about a group of French high schoolers on a trip to Pompeii, who experience intense emotions and unexpected events during their visit to the ancient city. The film is produced by France’s Les Films du Poisson and co-produced by Italy’s Bibi Films.

The Rising Star award, presented by the Louis Roederer Foundation, went to Aina Clotet for Alive. Catalan actress Clotet makes her feature directing debut and also stars in the film, a tragicomedy about a 40-year-old woman who starts a passionate relationship with two different men in the wake of a life-threatening illness.

Dua filmmakers Blerta Basholli and Nicole Borgeat won the SACD award.

Next Steps prize

Earlier in the festival, Critics’ Week awarded its Next Steps Sooner prize to Irish-British director Róisín Burns for her project Happy Hardcore, about a 17-year-old man from Liverpool who deserts his post in the midst of the Iraq war and returns to England.

The Next Steps programme is for supported talents from short to feature filmmaking. The Next Steps Sooner prize comes with €2,500 and an invitation to Cannes for the winning filmmaker.

Burns’ 2025 short Wonderwall was selected for Critics’ Week and nominated for a Cesar award. Previous winners of the award include Konstantina Kotzamani’s 2026 Un Certain Regard Titanic Ocean and Zou Jing’s Critics’ Week title A Girl Unknown.

The awards for Cannes’ Official Selection will be handed out in the festival ceremony on Saturday, May 23.