Directors’ Debuts Competition was initiated in 2010 due to the Festival’s increasing openness to the noteworthy artists and the new film phenomena they create.
The selection committee nominates first or second non-documentary feature films made by young directors and cinematographers. The idea of creating additional competition sections was a natural consequence of our previous activities. For years we have been promoting innovative projects that combine intellectual freedom, remarkable insight into world affairs and a desire to inspire other artists of the screen.
Directors’ Debuts Competition brings new discoveries: great movies of high artistic value and great filmmakers whose new ventures surprise not only the Jury members but all audiences around the world as well.
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BRIEF HISTORY OF A FAMILY
After an incident at their high school, Wei, an outgoing only son from a middle-class family, and Shuo, his quiet, perceptive classmate, find themselves connected through some mysterious energy that draws them intimately into each other’s lives. Wei soon introduces his friend to his father, a cell biologist, and his mother, a former flight attendant. Learning that Shuo comes from a troubled background, Wei’s parents welcome this boy with an enigmatic charm to spend more time in their home. Slowly integrating himself into Wei’s family life, Shuo discovers that their comfortable existence is shadowed by unspoken secrets, unmet expectations, and untended emotions. A tragic incident further complicates their lives, putting past wounds and present anxieties under the microscope.
Director: Jianjie Lin
Cinematographer: Jiahao Zhang
Country and year: China, France, Denmark, Qatar, 2024
DADDIO
Daddio celebrates the power found in those rare moments of pure human connection, even with the most unlikely person. This highly contained, yet kinetic character-study – encapsulated in one single cab ride – explores the complexities inherent to the secrets we keep, particularly the ones locked away on our phones. It’s about truth and illusion, how we so effortlessly substitute one for the other out of survival. It’s about the hurtful memories of childhood, how past trauma can manifest itself in the most profound ways. It’s about the beautiful dance between the pain and poetry that is the human experience.
Cinematographer: Phedon Papamichael
Produced by: Projected Picture Works, Rhea Films, TeaTime Pictures
Country and year: USA, 2023
IN THE LAND OF BROTHERS
Under the shadow of the US invasion, an extended Afghan refugee family begins their new lives in Iran unaware of the ultimate price expected of them as outliers in this (un)welcoming environment: Mohammad, a young teenager and promising student; Leila, a woman isolated by geography, and Qasem who bears the weight of his family’s sacrifice.
Original title: Dar Sarzamin-e Barâdar
Directors: Alireza Ghasemi, Raha Amirfazli
Cinematographer: Farshad Mohammadi
Produced by: BALDR Film, Furyo Films, Limited Circle
Country and year: Iran, France, Netherlands 2024
LOS FRIKIS
Inspired by true events, Los Frikis is a powerful coming-of-age story set in early 90s Cuba, centring around 18-year-old Gustavo who idolises his older brother Paco and his punk, “Frikis” bandmates. When word reaches the Frikis of a potential reprieve from the effects of the economic crisis, they do the now unthinkable: deliberately inject themselves with HIV to live at a government-run treatment home. It’s there that these teenagers create their own utopia full of joy, rock’n’roll, and freedom.Director: Tyler Nilson, Michael Schwartz
Cinematographer: Santiago Gonzalez
Produced by: Lord Miller
Country and year: USA, Dominican Republic, Cuba, 2024
NICKEL BOYS
Based on the Pulitzer Prize-winning novel by Colson Whitehead and inspired by real-life events, Nickel Boys chronicles the powerful friendship between two black teenagers who become wards of a juvenile reformatory in Florida. In breakout performances that cut to the bone, Ethan Herisse and Brandon Wilson play Elwood and Turner, whose close bond helps sustain their hope even as truths unfold around them at the Nickel Academy.
Director: RaMell Ross
Cinematographer: Jomo Fray
Produced by: A Plan B Entertainment, Anonymous Content, Louverture Films Production
Country and year: USA, 2024
PEDRO PÁRAMO
Based on Juan Rulfo’s masterpiece novel, considered one of the most important books in the history of Mexico and Latin America, the film narrates the story of Juan Preciado, who upon his mother’s death goes to the remote village where he was born in search of his father, Pedro Páramo. He encounters a ghost town, where he meets a series of mysterious people and learns about his dead father’s ruthless quest for wealth and power. The past makes itself present as we learn the truth behind Pedro Páramo’s own search for the love he once knew as a child. The line between the dead and the living and the past and the present is constantly blurred in this surreal tale of desire, hope, regret and resentment.
Director: Rodrigo Prieto
Cinematographer: Nico Aguilar
Produced by: REDRUM, Woo Films
Country and year: Meksyk, 2024
RED PATH
Mount Mghila is a very poor and isolated region in northwestern Tunisia. It is November 2015. Two teenage boys ignore the warnings of adults and enter a mountain area that is occupied by armed extremists. They are caught and accused of spying for the army. 13-year-old Achraf loses consciousness and when he regains it, he sees the decapitated body of his cousin. The terrorists force him to carry the severed head to the town as a warning to others. Burdened with the gruesome package, the boy begins a journey that will be a painful trip to adulthood. Red Path is a fact-based, heartbreaking drama that shows a life in which terrorism is a dark everyday reality.
Original title: Les enfants rouges
Director: Lotfi Achour
Cinematographer: Wojciech Staroń
Produced by: Apa: Artistes Producteurs Associés, La Luna Productions, Shipsboy, Versus Production
Country and year: Tunisia, France, Belgium, Poland, 2024
SANTOSH
A government scheme sees newly widowed Santosh inherit her husband’s job as a police constable in the rural badlands of Northern India. When a low-caste girl is murdered, Santosh is pulled into the investigation by the charismatic feminist inspector Sharma.
Director: Sandhya Suri
Cinematographer: Lennert Hillege
Country and year: UK, France, Germany, 2024
THE SUBSTANCE
An aging star of a TV show suffers the horrible consequences of taking an illegal drug that, according to the supplier, is supposed to turn her into a younger, better version of herself. How about you? How much would you be ready to sacrifice for eternal youth? Do you sometimes dream of becoming a better version of yourself? The same one, yet more perfect in every way? Try a new product called Substance, thanks to which nothing will ever be the same again. With Substance you can create a second self: younger, more beautiful, more perfect. The only thing you need to remember is to divide your time between the two selves, the old one and the new one. A week for one, a week for the other. A perfect balance that allows no deviations. It’s simple, isn’t it? If you don’t try to bend the rules, everything will go smoothly.
Director: Coralie Fargeat
Cinematographer: Benjamin Kracun
Produced by: A Good Story, Blacksmith, Working Title Films
Country and year: UK, USA, France, 2024
VALENTINA OR THE SERENITY
Valentina loses her father in a river accident, and not satisfied with the explanation of his death, she searches for him everywhere without success. She subsequently grows lonely, with her family and time helping her accommodate the absence and overcome grief.
Original title: Valentina o la serenidad
Director: Ángeles Cruz
Cinematographer: Carlos Correa Reynoso
Produced by: Mexican Film Institute (IMCINE)
Country and year: Meksyk, 2023
WHITE COURAGE
It is the late 1930s in the Podhale region. A talented mountain climber, descendant of a prominent highland family, Jędrek Zawrat likes living on the edge. When he climbs, he chooses the most difficult routes, when he loves, he is ready to sacrifice everything. As a result of a family decision, his beloved Bronka is married off to the older of the Zawrat brothers, the stable and serious Maciek. Proud Jędrek abandons his homeland to seek oblivion among the Cracow bohemians. On his way, he meets a German scientist and mountaineer Wolfram, who proclaims the theory that the Highlanders descend from the ancient Germanic tribe of the Pragoths. When the war breaks out, the Germans offer the people of Podhale cooperation. Maciej Zawrat, supported by many distinguished families, firmly rejects the offer. Jędrek, however, persuaded by Wolfram and hoping to win back his beloved Bronka and save his community from wartime annihilation, decides to cooperate with the Germans.
Original title: Biała Odwaga
Director: Marcin Koszałka
Cinematographer: Marcin Koszałka
Produced by: Balapolis
Country and year: Polska, 2024
WHO DO I BELONG TO
Aicha lives in the isolated north of Tunisia with her husband and youngest son. The family lives in anguish after the departure of the eldest sons Mehdi and Amine into the violent embrace of war. When Mehdi unexpectedly returns home with a mysterious pregnant wife, a darkness emerges, threatening to consume the entire village. Aicha is caught between her maternal love and her search for the truth.
Original title: Mé el Aïn
Director: Meryam Joobeur
Cinematographer: Vincent Gonneville
Produced by: Instinct Bleu, Midi La Nuit, Tanit Films
