Kering and the Festival de Cannes announce that the 2025 Women In Motion Emerging Talent Award will be presented to Brazilian director Marianna Brennand during the official Women In Motion dinner at Cannes. Brennand was selected by Malaysian director Amanda Nell Eu who received the Award in 2024, as each winner is chosen by the preceding Award winner to receive the prize, which includes a grant of €50,000 to support the creation of the laureate’s second feature project.
In 2025, as the Women In Motion program celebrates 10 years of recognizing women in the seventh art, Kering is proud to continue its commitment to promoting emerging female talent, exposing persistent inequalities in the film industry and beyond, and playing a part in changing mindsets and practices, thus providing women with an additional springboard for launching their careers. Reflecting a real but still too slow and uneven evolution, the share of women directors, for example, increased from 7.5% to 13.6% among the top 100 box office films in the United States between 2015 and 2024.
Every year in Cannes for the past ten years, the program has awarded inspirational figures and female directors whose first feature film shows great potential. The Emerging Talent Award, which comes with a grant aimed at supporting the winner’s second film project, notably allowed the program to support Leyla Bouzid (Tunisia), Gaya Jiji (Syria), Ida Panahandeh (Iran), Maysaloun Hamoud (Palestine), Carla Simón (Spain), Eva Trobisch (Germany), Maura Delpero (Italy), Shannon Murphy (Australia), Ninja Thyberg (Sweden), Carmen Jaquier (Switzerland) and Amanda Nell Eu (Malaysia). This grant strives to overcome the challenges linked to a lack of resources in a sector as competitive as the film industry. Some recipients of the Prize have gone on to receive international recognition for their second feature film: Carla Simón, for instance, won the Golden Bear at the Berlinale in 2022 for Alcarràs, and Maura Delpero received the Grand Jury Prize in Venice in 2024 for Vermiglio.
Marianna Brennand, director of Manas, declared: “Manas exists because, for me, it is imperative to give voice to women and girls who would not be heard otherwise. The recognition this award brings not only amplifies our voices but reminds us of the importance of women directing films about women. To receive this award from director Amanda Nell Eu, whose work is so unique and brave, moves me deeply. I recognise the importance and beauty of being part of the Women In Motion community and would like to pay this honor forward to the manas who courageously shared their stories with us. I thank our crew and partners in the Manas team who held my hand for these last ten years as we weaved together this story that seemed too difficult to tell. I hope through Manas women feel seen, heard, respected and encouraged to break their silences. To all manas of the world, let us speak out.”
Amanda Nell Eu explained her choice: “Marianna Brennand’s debut feature Manas was an incredibly captivating and painful story, with its luscious cinematography and strong performances by its young lead actors. Manas portrays a distressing but very real story of what many young girls face, deep in the wild surroundings of the Amazon rainforest. This film made me feel so much rage, anger and love for them, and I applaud Marianna for making this powerful film and giving this issue a much needed voice.”
The recipient of the 2025 Women In Motion Award, as well as the program of Talks for the 78th edition of the Festival de Cannes, will be revealed in the coming weeks.
