Cannes 2025: An Exceptional Year for Wallonia-Brussels Cinema!
Once again, French-speaking Belgian cinema shines at the Cannes Film Festival, with strong representation across the various competitions and parallel sections of the 2025 edition.
Powerful films, driven by both established and emerging filmmakers, showcase the vitality and diversity of our creative scene.
In Competition, Jean-Pierre and Luc Dardenne return to the Croisette with Jeunes Mères, their 13th feature film, produced by Les Films du Fleuve. Ten of their previous films have been selected for the Competition at Cannes, where they have received eight major awards, including two Palmes d’Or, making them the most awarded filmmakers in the history of the Festival. Jeunes Mères continues their sensitive exploration of contemporary society through the lives of five very young women living in a maternity home, striving for a better future for themselves and their children.
The next generation is equally promising, with three films selected in the parallel sections:
At the Critics’ Week, L’intérêt d’Adam, the second feature by Laura Wandel (Dragon Films and Les Films du Fleuve), will open the section. Following the critical success of Playground (Un Certain Regard, 2021), the director confirms her talent with a poignant story focusing on the relationship between a nurse and a distressed mother.
Also at Critics’ Week, in competition, Alexe Poukine’s debut feature Kika (Wrong Men) portrays a pregnant heroine facing the sudden loss of her partner. With dark humor and resilience, she fights to stay afloat.
Meanwhile, at the Directors’ Fortnight, The Dance of the Foxes (La danse des renards) by Valery Carnoy (Hélicotronc) – also a debut film – follows a young boxing prodigy whose passion falters after a tragic event, in a sensitive narrative about friendship, identity, and the dizziness of youth.
Alongside these four majority productions, five minority co-productions, also supported by the CCA, will be showcased:
• Official Selection, Competition: Alpha by Julia Ducournau (co-produced by Frakas Productions), highly anticipated after her 2021 Palme d’Or win.
• Official Selection, Un Certain Regard: The Mysterious Gaze of the Flamingo (Le Mystérieux Regard du flamant rose) by Diego Céspedes (co-production by Wrong Men).
• Official Selection, Out of Competition: The Richest Woman in the World (La femme la plus riche du monde) by Thierry Klifa (co-production by Versus).
• Critics’ Week: Imago, a documentary by Déni Oumar Pitsaev (co-produced by Need Productions).
• Directors’ Fortnight: Loynes, a short film by Dorian Jespers (SCUM, Wrong Men).
In total, nine films supported by the Wallonia-Brussels Federation will be celebrated on the Croisette, demonstrating the strength of the Belgian production network, the creativity of its authors, and the international recognition of Wallonia-Brussels’ French-speaking cinema.
Finally, we must also highlight the presence of French-speaking Belgian companies in the credits of several selected films: Panache Productions and La Compagnie Cinématographique for Dalloway by Yann Gozlan and La venue de l’avenir by Cédric Klapisch; Wrong Men for Connemara by Alex Lutz; Magellan Films for Marcel and Monsieur Pagnol by Sylvain Chomet; Umedia for Planets by Momoko Seto; Les Films du Fleuve for Enzo by Robin Campillo.
See you from May 13 to 24, 2025, for what promises to be a memorable edition for Belgian cinema!
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