Young French Cinema at Gateway Film Center (Columbus, OH)

The program mainly focuses on rising talents, from high-profile independent works to impactful dramas and powerful documentaries about the world around us. The 2024 selection demonstrates that this young generation—more than ever—shares a global vision and an amazing capacity to combine cultural influences and tackle an incredibly wide range of subject matters.

Sisterhood by Nora El Hourch
Sept 6, 2024
Despite their different social backgrounds, Amina, Djeneba, and Zineb have been friends for as long as they can remember. When Zineb experiences harassment from her brother’s best friend, Amina decides to post a compromising video of him on social media, hoping he will stop. Little does she know that the video will not only jeopardize her safety, but also strain their friendship.
100 min – Genre: Fiction, Drama – Cast: Léah Aubert, Salma Takaline, Medina Diarra -Main Festivals: TIFF

Ama Gloria by Marie Amachoukeli
Sept 6, 2024
Six-year-old Cléo loves her nanny Gloria more than anything. When Gloria must suddenly return to Cape Verde to care for her own children, Cléo makes her promise that they will see each other very soon. Gloria invites Cléo to her island and the two must make the most of their last summer together.
84 min – Genre: Fiction, Comedy drama – Cast: Louise Mauroy-Panzani, Ilça Moreno Zego – Main Festivals: Cannes FF

Marinette by Virginie Verrier
Sept 6, 2024
Marinette Pichon is one of the world’s greatest stars of football, having held the record for the most number of goals and caps for the French team (men/women combined) for almost two decades, before becoming a FIFA Legend by being the first French player to have a career in the US. A pioneer of French women’s soccer, the film follows her fight to spread awareness on women’s rights in sport. A path full of pitfalls, from a childhood ravaged by an alcoholic and violent father to the heavy burden of coming out in an era where LGBTQ+ rights were non-existent. Her success in sport will fuel her desire to make a difference in the recognition of French women’s soccer, homosexuality, and equal opportunity. It is the story of a woman’s life, a fighter, an uncompromising ode to freedom, to surpassing oneself.
95 min – Genre: Biopic, LGBTQ – Cast: Garance Marillier, Emilie Dequenne, Alban Lenoir – Main Festivals: Tribeca Film Festival

First Case by Victoria Musiedlak
Sept 7, 2024
Nora, a 26-year-old lawyer fresh out of law school, has the impression that she doesn’t have any real life experience when she finds herself thrown into her first criminal law case. From her initial meeting with her client in police custody and throughout the investigation, Nora discovers the cruelty of the world that surrounds her private and professional lives. Quickly carried away by the frenzy of her new life, she starts making mistake after mistake, leading her to wonder about her life choices.
98 min – Genre: Fiction, Drama – Cast: Noée Abita, Anders Danielsen Lie, Alexis Neises – Main Festivals: Locarno FF

Little Girl Blue by Mona Achache
Sept 7, 2024
After her mother’s death, Mona Achache discovers thousands of photos, letters, and recordings, but these buried secrets make her disappearance even more of an enigma. Through the power of filmmaking and the beauty of incarnation, she brings her mother back to life to retrace her journey and find out who she really was.
95 min – Genre: Documentary – Cast: Marion Cotillard – Main Festivals: Cannes FF, Telluride, London

Young French Cinema is a program of UniFrance and Villa Albertine that aims to bring French films that are not distributed in the US to art house cinemas, film societies, the Alliance Française network, and American universities.