Biarritz Honors ‘Emilia Perez’ Star Karla Sofía Gascón – MASHAHER

Matt Dillon, Alice Diop and Karla Sofia Gascon will bring their springtime spirit to this month’s Nouvelles Vagues Film Festival, now running from June 18 – 23 in Biarritz. Launched last year, the nascent festival invites both established and emerging talents to share an expansive vision of youth, hosting a competition dedicated to young adult stories overseen by a jury all under the age of 35.

“Across all sections, this festival shines the spotlight on younger generations and celebrates young characters on screen,” says programing director Lili Hinstin. “We wanted to look to the future through the prism of the next generation, and to interrogate the questions and contemporary issues important to them.”

To that end, this sophomore edition kicked off with the world premiere of “Night Call,” a Brussels-set thriller, taking place over the course of one heated night, foisting an unsuspecting locksmith into a criminal underworld as civil rights protests roil the larger the city around him. “This is a very modern film, folding in the Black Lives Matter movement through script and staging without becoming [a political drama],” says Hinstin.

“It’s a thriller following a young man on an extraordinary adventure while avoiding common clichés about race. Opening the festival with such a contemporary title felt like a manifesto.”

The eight-film competition also hosts the French premieres of Nora Fingscheidt’s “The Outrun,” Rich Peppiatt’s “Kneecap,” and Bill Ross IV & Turner Ross’ “Gasoline Rainbow,” as well as Cannes Œil d’Or winner “The Brink of Dreams” from Ayman El Amir & Nada Riyadh and director Shuchi Talati’s Sundance primed “Girls Will Be Girls,” led by “All We Imagine As Light” star Kani Kusruti. Rounding out the competition are Thierry de Peretti’s “In His Own Image” and Caroline Poggi & Jonathan Vinel’s “Eat the Night,” which both premiered out of Directors’ Fortnight last month.

All filmmakers are slated to attend.

The festival will also welcome a number of buzzy Cannes titles in non-competitive gala slots, offering a springboard to Arnaud and Jean-Marie Larrieu’s “Jim’s Story,” Noemie Merlant’s “The Balconettes,” Agathe Riedinger’s “Wild Diamond,” and Michel Hazanavicius’ “The Most Precious of Cargoes,” while “Emilia Pérez” breakout Karla Sofía Gascón will be celebrated as this year’s guest of honor — a fitting tribute for a showcase on the Franco-Spanish border.

Indeed, boasting institutional support from partners like Canal+ and Chanel, Biarritz shows growing promise as a public-facing, post-Cannes launchpad for the local market, while the programing director wants to make sure that rising tide lifts up a new generation of voices as well.

“The idea is to give a voice to young people and to listen to their views on cinema,” says Hinstin. “The question of who selects and awards films is almost political in nature, so we’ve put together an intergenerational selection committee that spans different cultural and social backgrounds in order to create greater conditions of openness. Programing and screening films does place you in a position of power, so then, who takes that place?”

“The Five Devils” filmmaker and “Emilia Pérez” co-screenwriter Léa Mysius leads the under-35 jury, which also includes Thai actress and pop idol Kitty Chicha (“Girl From Nowhere”), U.S rising star Zoey Deutch (“The Outfit”), French actors Kim Higelin (“Consent”) and Vincent Lacoste (“Irma Vep”), Spanish social media sensation Manu Ríos (“Elite,” “Strange Way of Life”), Iranian photographer Arash Khaksari, and outgoing Vogue China editor-in-chief Margaret Zhang.

Alongside Karla Sofía Gascón, international guests of honor Matt Dillon and James Franco will host respective screenings of “Drugstore Cowboy” and “Spring Breakers,” while local luminaries Alice Diop (“Saint Omer”), Alain Chabat (“Asterix & Obelix: Mission Cleopatra”) and Alex Lutz (“Vortex”) have programed formative works like “Hold Back,” “Three Amigos” and “Empire of the Sun” – all personal titles that speak to the filmmakers’ experiences of early life.

“All of our invitees embody youth,” says Hinstin. “Matt Dillon will forever be linked with the livewire, rebellious teens he played for Francis Ford Coppola. [Dillon] began his career as this teenage icon and idol of New Hollywood, while Alice Diop has [explored coming-of-age] in so many of her documentaries and comedian Alain Chabat is the eternal teenager of French cinema, representing the nonchalance and fun that make up adolescence.

“And so, instead of focusing on all of their current careers, we want to ask about their background in order to explore their relationships to cinema.”