12/10/2021 - The filmmaker joins previous winners of the prize rewarding originality thanks to Petite Solange, while an honorary Jean Vigo Award went to Claire Denis

Petite Solange by Axelle Ropert

Celebrating a director’s independence of mind, originality and the quality of their work, the 69th Jean Vigo Award was won by Axelle Ropert via Petite Solange [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Axelle Ropert
film profile] (unveiled in competition in Locarno), "for the accuracy with which she depicts forms of suffering which appear to be straightforward, but which leave lasting wounds - those we experience in childhood and adolescence – [and] for the sensitive way in which she captures everyday dramas without over-dramatizing them..."

(The article continues below - Commercial information)

The filmmaker joins the ranks of previous award winners Jean-Luc Godard, Maurice Pialat, Alain Resnais, Claude Chabrol, Philippe Garrel, Olivier Assayas, Bruno Dumont, Laurent Cantet, Xavier Beauvois, Alain Guiraudie and Mathieu Amalric. Interestingly, this is the 7th time a woman has nabbed this award, after Anne Fontaine, Noémie Lvovsky, Patricia Mazuy, Katell Quillévéré, Héléna Klotz and Sophie Letourneur.

Axelle Ropert’s 4th feature film after The Wolberg Family [+see also:
trailer
film profile] (Directors’ Fortnight 2009), Miss and the Doctors [+see also:
trailer
film profile] (2013) and The Apple of My Eye [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile] (which competed in Locarno in 2016), Petite Solange stars Jade Springer, Léa Drucker and Philippe Katerine in its cast, and is produced by Charlotte Vincent on behalf of Aurora Films. The film will be released in French cinemas on 2 February by Haut et Court with international sales in the hands of mk2 Films.

As for the 2021 Jean Vigo Award for Best Short Film, this was won by Lila Pinell for Le Roi David (produced by Emmanuel Chaumet and Caroline Demopoulos on behalf of Ecce Films), while the Honorary Jean Vigo Award went to Claire Denis.

(Translated from French)