15/07/2022 - An Escazal Films production sold by Be For Films, the filmmaker’s debut feature is due to world premiere in the Cineasti del Presente competition

Hailing from the theatre world (specifically by way of the La Piccola Familia company) and a former participant in La Fémis’s screenwriting workshop, Julie Lerat-Gersant is already turning heads with her feature film debut, Little Ones [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Julie Lerat-Gersant
film profile], which has been selected to compete in the Cineasti del Presente line-up of the upcoming Locarno Film Festival (the 75^th edition of which is scheduled to unspool from 3-13 August 2022 – read our news).

The cast stars young Belgian actress ​Pili Groyne (revealed via Two Days, One Night [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Luc and Jean-Pierre Dardenne
film profile] and awarded the Best Actress prize in Sitges 2015 for The Brand New Testament [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Jaco van Dormael
film profile], which also won her a Magritte Best New Hope nomination in 2016), Romane Bohringer (especially well-received in In the Move for Love [+see also:
trailer
film profile] and hitting cinemas next year in La fille d’Albino Rodrigue), Victoire Du Bois (notably eye-catching in Call Me by Your Name [+see also:
film review
trailer
Q&A: Luca Guadagnino
film profile] and soon to be seen in Les survivants), Lucie Charles-Alfred (the acting revelation from The Road Ahead [+see also:
trailer
film profile]), Suzanne Roy-Lerat and Bilel Chegrani (seen in Cuties [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Maïmouna Doucouré
film profile], Fragile [+see also:
trailer
film profile] and Arthur Rambo [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Laurent Cantet
film profile]).

Written by the director, the story revolves around pregnant, 16-year-old Camille who is placed in a home for teen mothers by a family court judge. Separated from her own loving yet toxic mother, she strikes up a friendship with Alison, another rather immature underage mother, and rebels against her social worker Nadine, a passionate, albeit blasé authority figure. These are encounters which will radically change her destiny…

Little Ones is produced by Sophie Révil and Denis Carot on behalf of Paris-based firm Escazal Films, and has been pre-purchased by Canal+ and Ciné+. The movie also enjoys support from the Normandy region and the SOFICA companies Cofimage and Indéfilms. Photography comes courtesy of Belgium’s Virginie Saint Martin (nominated for the 2014 and 2015 Magrittes in her field) while editing is that of French talent Mathilde Van de Moortel (awarded the 2016 César for Mustang [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Deniz Gamze Ergüven
film profile]). Distribution in France will be steered by Haut et Court and international sales by Be For Films.

For the record, Escazal Films have previously helmed In the Move for Love by Romane Bohringer and Philippe Rebbot, and Marie’s Story [+see also:
trailer
film profile] by Jean-Pierre Améris (screened in Locarno’s Piazza Grande in 2014).

(Translated from French)