Molly Manning Walker’s debut feature How To Have Sex has won the top prize in the Un Certain Regard section of this year’s Cannes Film Festival (May 16-27).
The film follows a group of teenage girls on a rite-of-passage clubbing holiday, and was shot in Greece with a cast including Mia McKenna-Bruce, Lara Peake and Samuel Bottomley. It is produced by Wild Swim Films and co-producer Heretic, with backing by Film4, BFI and mk2 Films, with Mubi releasing in the UK, North America and other key territories. mk2 handles international sales.
Moroccan writer/director Kamal Lazraq’s feature debut Hounds won the jury prize. It is set in working-class Casablanca where a father and son who work for the mob find themselves tasked with kidnap.
Another Moroccan filmmaker, Asmae El Moudir, picked up the best director award for her second feature The Mother Of All Lies, a documentary reflecting on the bread riots that shook her working-class Casablanca neighbourhood in 1981.
The new voice prize went to Omen, the feature directorial debut of Belgian rapper, MC and hip-hop artist Baloji, that follows a thirtysomething man’s return from Belgium to his Congolese birthplace after he has been ostracised by his family.
Mohamed Kordofani’s Goodbye Julia, the first Sudanese film to be chosen for Cannes’ official selection, won the freedom prize.
Finally, The Buriti Flower, from Brazil’s João Salaviza and Renée Nader Messora - who collaborated on Un Certain Regard 2018 jury prize winner The Dead And The Others - collected the ensemble award.
The jury was presided over by John C. Reilly and also included Paula Beer, Davy Chou, Alice Winocour and Émilie Dequenne.
The 2023 Un Certain Regard selection included 20 feature films, eight of which are first features also competing for the Caméra d’Or.
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