Louise Courvoisier is leaving Cannes with a €15,000 grant (about $16,000 USD), the guarantee of having her debut feature screen at the fest, and the distinction of being named the first prize winner at the 22nd Cinéfondation Selection. The Short Films and Cinéfondation Jury — headed by “High Life” helmer Claire Denis — chose Courvoisier’s “Mano a Mano” from the 17 student films that screened, a press release announced. An official selection of the Cannes Film Festival, this year’s Cinéfondation program was culled from 2,000 entries coming from 366 film schools around the world.
“Mano a Mano” follows two acrobats struggling to rebuild trust in one another. “You made us enter the world of the circus in an unspoken and unknown way, and we found in [the French region] Jura something amazing,” Denis told Courvoisier. She continued, “It is not a short film. This film seemed to us to be part of a much bigger story describing the unspoken feelings of these two incredible acrobats.”
Courvoisier has two brothers who perform as circus artists. “For me, the whole spectacle life is very near to me,” she explained. “I wanted to show the circus, not the way people imagine it is, but from the inside.”
Barbara Rupik’s “Duszyczka” (“The Little Soul”), the story of a human soul hiding inside a dead body, tied for third place. The jury praised the project as “a great work of animation that takes us on an extraordinary journey.”
“An Easy Girl,” Rebecca Zlotowski’s fourth feature, just won the Directors’ Fortnight prize. The pic tells the story of a teenage girl who spends the summer with her older, more worldly cousin.
