Hafsia Herzi’s French coming-of-age drama The Little Sister has won the Louis Delluc prize for best film of the year.
The prize marks the unofficial kick-off of awards season in France and hints at the contenders likely to vie for top prizes at the César awards and the Lumières. It is voted upon by a jury of film critics and professionals presided over by former Cannes Film Festival director Gilles Jacob.
Actress-turned-filmmaker Herzi’s third feature premiered in competition at Cannes and was shortlisted as France’s 2026 Oscar entry. It centres on a French-Algerian teenager exploring her sexuality while navigating her Muslim faith.
Its star Nadia Melliti won best actress at Cannes, and the film also took home the Queer Palm before making the global festival rounds.
Produced by Paris-based production duo Julie Billy and Naomi Denamur’s June Films, The Little Sister (La Petite Dernière) has also been a box-office success in France with 400,000 tickets sold to date for Ad Vitam. Strand Releasing is handling US distribution. MK2 Films handles sales.
Valentine Cadic’s That Summer In Paris was named best first feature of the year. The film premiered at February’s Berlinale and is set around the 2024 Paris Olympic Games. Comme des Cinémas produced in co-production with Cinq De Trèfle Productions. New Story released the film in France.
Six Cannes Film Festival premieres were nominated for the top prize this year. Apart from The Little Sister, they were Richard Linklater’s Nouvelle Vague, Dominik Moll’s Case 137, Anna Cazenave Cambet’s Love Me Tender, Laurent Cantet’s Enzo directed by Robin Campillo, and Drifting Laurent from directing trio Anton Balekdjian, Léo Couture and Mattéo Eustachon.
The other nominations for the Louis Delluc prize for best first feature were Ugo Bienveu’s Arco, a strong contender for best animated feature at the Oscars this year, Pauline Loques’ Nino, Alexe Poukine’s Kika and Aurelien Peyre’s Hearts On Fire.
Last year’s Louis Delluc prizes went to Alain Guiraudie’s Misericordia for best film and Jonathan Millet’s Ghost Trail for best debut feature.
The winners were announced today (Dec 10) at le Fouqet’s in Paris, and the official prizes will be handed out on January 26 at the French Cinematheque.
No comments yet