the audience prize awarded to the film “The Red Children”, the story of a terrorist attack which traumatized Tunisia

Lhe closing ceremony of the 11th edition of the Saint-Jean-de-Luz International Film Festival, came almost (1) to conclude a new exciting week of cinema, spent as the name of the feature film screened following, “À all speed.” The production without downtime by Lucas Bernard, with Pio Marmaï, José Garcia and Eye Haidara, present with the director, was preceded by the final two films in competition, “Winter in Sokcho” and “Jane Austen ruined my life”.

Ten were, like every autumn, submitted to the gaze of film buffs and the jury, chaired this year by Zabou Breitman. Six days after the fanfare opening in front of “Joli Joli” and the day after the beautiful concert “Hommage à Dani”, played at the Peyuco-Duhart cultural center, the Grand Prize, for this very musical 2024 opus, went to the dramatic melody Afghan “In the Land of Our Brothers”, produced by the Iranian duo Raha Amirfazli and Alireza Ghasemi.

In agreement with Anne Charrier, Alexis Michalik, Safy Nebbou and Reinhardt Wagner, the prize for directing was awarded, next, to the Tunisian director Lotfi Achour, for “The Red Children”. Story of a terrorist attack which cost the lives of two Tunisian teenage cousins, on November 15, 2015, 48 hours after the Bataclan attack. Interviewed by “Sud Ouest” on one of the festival’s many TV sets, its director explained that he had shot it responsibly, “like a documentary”.

While waiting for the favorite price

“In the Land of Our Brothers” was once again invited for the Best Actress Prize, which went to the formidable Iranian actress Hamideh Jafari. Lawrence Valin, the delighted young director of the Tamil thriller “Little Jaffna”, already awarded a short version in Saint-Jean-de-Luz, walked away this year with the much-coveted prize from the Youth jury, worth 10,000 euros. Better still, he had the happy surprise of receiving, as a bonus, the male performance prize.

The French Union of Cinema Critics (SFCC), represented this year by Katia Bayer, Clément Colliaux and Manon Marcillat, chose to dedicate Koya Kamura’s trip to Korea, “Winter in Sokcho”, inspired by the eponymous novel by Elisa Shua Dusapin.

The public prize, the best of the 15 awards made official this October 12 from room number 1 of the Select, finally brought to light the poignant Tunisian production, “The Red Children”.

A big first this year, a public favorite prize will be revealed this Sunday only. It will reward the best of the ten feature films presented out of competition throughout the week. Including the adventure comedy “À Tout Allure”, represented, for the anecdote, by a team who remained stuck on a train for a good part of the afternoon.

(1) The festival continues this Sunday with the free screening, at 10 a.m., at the Select, of the 50 two-minute short films finalists from the 14th edition of the Nikon film festival. Another free session at 2 p.m., with four short films presented by “friends of the festival” directors.