At the 29th Rendez-Vous With French Cinema in New York, whose attendance figures continue to grow year after year, Unifrance and Film at Lincoln Center are delighted to announce that the 5th Rendez-Vous Audience Award was given by the public to Thomas Cailley's The Animal Kingdom, and that the Best Emerging Filmmaker Award, decided by a jury of six New York students, went to Iris Kaltenbäck's The Rapture.
The Animal Kingdom, Thomas Cailley's latest feature, received the fifth Audience Award (after Les Éblouis in 2020, Petite fille in 2021, En corps in 2022, and For My Country in 2023). The film was released on March 15 in the United States, distributed by Magnolia Pictures. We also note that a Special Mention was awarded to Toni, by Nathan Ambrosioni.
The Audience Award is decided by festival-goers, who are invited to rate the films online after the screenings. At the end of the festival, one of these spectators was randomly selected to win a round-trip ticket for two to Paris, thanks to the support of Air France.
The 3rd Best Emerging Filmmaker Award was also announced at the festival: Iris Kaltenbäck's The Rapture. The award serves to draw attention to the unique cinematic point of view of emerging French filmmakers, and their interpretation of France's new and diverse identities. A mention was awarded to No Love Lost, by Erwan Le Duc.
We'd like to highlight that No Love Lost and Toni both feature in Young French Cinema 2024, which offers a program of contemporary French films, which don't yet have local distributors, to North American cinemas, film libraries and universities, sometimes accompanied by masterclasses and debates with the directors.
Six students from New York universities were invited to take part in the Student Jury for Best Emerging Filmmaker, from among the seven premieres and second features in the selection.
- Olivera Darden, Communication and Media Studies, Fordham University
- Basile Guichard, Martin Scorsese Department of Cinema Studies, New York University
- Kaveh Jalinous, Film & Media Studies/French & Francophone Studies, Columbia University
- Katherine Prior, Feirstein Graduate School of Cinema, Brooklyn College
- Jasmine Shiffer, Film, CUNY Hunter College
- Ferman Victor Siasat, BFA Film, The School of Visual Arts.
A few figures
Once again, the Rendez-Vous sold out, with a total of 8,400 tickets sold, including 750 for school screenings. (photo below)
Of the 21 feature films in the program, over half were directed by women and eight by first-time filmmakers.
Media Gallery
© Thomas Brunot / Unifrance
© Thomas Brunot / Unifrance
