UniFrance's 10 to Watch 2023
In the frame of Rendez-vous Unifrance Paris 2023, ten French talents, among Filmmakers, actresses and actors, were unveiled at the conference UniFrance's 10 to Watch 2023. The actors Dali Benssalah (“No Time to Die”), Bastien Bouillon (“Up the Mountain”), Paul Kircher (“Winter Boy”), Lyna Khoudri, Annabelle Lengronne (“Mother and Son”), Rebecca Marder (“Not My Type”), Nadia Tereszkiewicz (“Forever Young”), as well as the filmmaker Davy Chou, Céline Devaux (“Everybody Loves Jeanne”), and Charlotte Le Bon, are new faces of French cinema.
They have made a name for themselves in major international festivals during 2022 and will be on screens all over the world during this year. “Unifrance promotes the international career of these talents because it is a way of stand out French talent in the world,” said Daniela Elstner, Unifrance executive director.
These talents have been selected by international journalists Rebecca Leffler (Screen International), Fabien Lemercier (Cineuropa), Elsa Keslassy (Variety), and Jordan Mintzer (The Hollywood Reporter). All of them referred to their international career, mentioning the projects they have worked on and the talents with whom they have shared filming. “I am trying to establish my career in Belgium and Switzerland”, commented Bastien Bouillon. He has worked notably several times with Dominik Moll, in “Only the Animals” in 2019 and in the lead role of “The Night of the 12th”, presented in the Cannes Première strand at Cannes 2022, a role for which he has again been nominated for a César Award for Most Promising Actor.
Rebecca Marder indicated that she would like to work in the United States, England and Spain and Nadia Tereszkiewicz confessed that she did not have an international career in mind but she discovered many interesting European films in which she would like to participate. After Michel Leclerc’s “Not My Type” in 2022, Rebecca will participate in 2023 in François Ozon’s “The Crime Is Mine”, Noémie Lvovsky’s “The Great Magic” and Sylvain Desclous’ “Grand Expectations”. She is also among the 2023 Revelations of the César Academy. On the other hand, Nadia Tereszkiewicz debuted in Dennis Berry’s “Wild” in 2019, but it was her role in Dominik Moll’s “Only the Animals” that launched her career, with a César Award nomination for Most Promising Actress and the Best Actress Award at the Tokyo International Film Festival. She also made her mark on television in Thomas Vincent’s Canal+ series “Possessions”, also starring Reda Kateb. She is also one of the 2023 Revelations of the César Academy and she will soon be seen in “The Last Queen” by Damien Ounouri and Adila Bendimerad.
"My desire is to work on meaningful projects and get to know other cultures and languages," said Dali Benssalah. “I like working with very passionate people and that's how it has been in all the projects,” said the actor. In 2021, he was among the cast of the latest James Bond, “No Time to Die”. He was next seen in 2022 in Yohan Manca’s “My Brothers and I”, and in 2023, he will be seen in Ursula Meier’s “The Line”, Jeanne Herry’s “Je verrai toujours vos visages”, and “The Last Queen.”
The French talents also revealed what they take into account when choosing their characters. "I don't think about genres, I can act in comedies, dramas, it doesn't matter, I'm interested in characters that can challenge me, that reveal some aspect of myself that I don't know," said Annabelle Lengronne. "The important thing is to fall in love at first sight with the character and the director," Nadia Tereszkiewicz completed, while for Dali Benssalah, the main things are the character, the script and the work team.
Unifrance is proud to honour this new generation of directors and actors, who contribute so fully to the effervescence of French cinematographic creation, and to enhance the distribution of their works beyond French borders.
By Romina Rodriguez from Paris
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