La Gradiva Trailer Debuts Before NYFF, December Release — SkimNews
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- Marine Atlan's directing debut "La Gradiva," a coming-of-age story about high school students traveling to Pompeii, won the top prize at this year's Cannes Critics' Week.
- "La Gradiva" narrowly missed representing France in the Best International Feature Oscar race, with that slot going instead to the Russian-language "Minotaur," a multinational production that won the Grand Prize out of the Cannes competition.
- IndieWire frames "La Gradiva" as this year's "All We Imagine as Light" — a wildly beloved festival film that missed international Oscar placement despite acclaim, noting India snubbed "Light" while countries like France could have stepped in.
- "La Gradiva" will next play the New York Film Festival starting Sunday, September 27, ahead of its December 18 theatrical release from distributor 1-2 Special.
- Atlan previously worked as a cinematographer and co-wrote "La Gradiva" with Anne Brouillet; she also serves as her own director of photography, lending the film a sensuous visual style.
- IndieWire's review praises the film as "mercifully free of typical high school movie tropes," with the teenagers' fears, desires, and "messy teenage feelings" treated with "utmost respect."
- Distributor 1-2 Special also releases the German International Oscar entry "Everytime," directed by Sandra Wöllner, which earned similarly immense acclaim out of Cannes.
Why it matters: Festival prestige is converting into distribution: 1-2 Special is pairing two of Cannes's most talked-about titles — the French Critics' Week winner and Germany's Oscar submission — under one banner, giving both a North American platform ahead of their respective Oscar and awards-season pushes.
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