Cerermony - César 2023: The Short Film Brunch (Fiction category)

By Mulder, Paris, La companie 1837, 11 december 2022

For the first year, the Académie des César honors the directors and producers of the 48 short films, during a brunch held this Sunday, December 11, 2022. This Selection is accompanied by a pair of godmother/sponsor of the cinema, who is present to share his experience and encourage these new talents of emerging cinema.

This Sunday, December 11, 2022, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Techniques has organized a new event around the Short Film. During a brunch, it brought together the directors and producers of the year's short films, which will be submitted to the votes of the members of the Academy and thus compete for the César 2023. They have been chosen by the three Short Film Committees of the Academy and compose the Short Film Fiction Selection, the Short Film Animation Selection and the Short Film Documentary Selection César 2023.

This friendly meeting brought together :
- Félix Moati, godfather of the Short Film Fiction Selection César 2023 (Nicole Garcia, the godmother was absent because of bronchitis)
- Camélia Jordana and Aurel, godmother and godfather of the César 2023 Animated Short Film Selection,
- Yolande Zauberman and Éric Caravaca, godmother and godfather of the Documentary Short Film Selection César 2023.

The lists of 24 fiction shorts, 12 animated shorts and 12 documentary shorts have been compiled by the Short Film Committees of the César Academy from among the shorts that have marked the year 2022. They will be submitted to the votes of the members of the Academy and will be able to compete for the 2023 César Awards.

The Short Film Brunch is organized thanks to the support of Canal+, partner and broadcaster of the César Awards, which also accompanies the Academy in the promotion of short films.

Discover our photos of the photocall on our Flickr page here and also our photos of this ceremony here

In order to facilitate the vote of the Academy members for the César for the Best Short Fiction Film, 24 short fiction films have been selected by the Short Fiction Film Committee. The 24 films are presented on the viewing platform set up for the members of the Academy.

À point by Aurélie Marpeaux (20 minutes)
Synopsis: Anna, 18, has always lived in the same neighborhood. But when her professional future allows her to discover new things, Anna is paralyzed to leave behind her friends, her memories, her identity.
What will she be willing to give up?

Astel by Ramata-Toulaye Sy (24 minutes)
Synopsis: It is October, the end of the rainy season in Fouta, a remote region in northern Senegal. Astel accompanies his father every day in the bush. Together, they take care of their herd of cows. But one day, in the middle of the desert, the meeting between the young girl and a shepherd disrupts the peaceful daily life between Astel and her father.

Caillou by Mathilde Poymiro (25 minutes)
Synopsis: Elias, 17 years old, loses his father suddenly. At school as well as at home, his relatives are waiting for his reaction, which does not come. Elias continues his life as if nothing had happened.

Dorothy's Demons by Alexis Langlois (29 minutes)
Synopsis: Dorothy, a loose director, is having fun writing her script. But a phone call from her producer stops her from laughing: it's time to stop making queer comedies and make universal films! In order not to sink into anguish, Dorothy takes refuge in her favorite series, Romy and the Vampires. Unfortunately, her demons have decided to visit her tonight...

Dorlis by Enricka Mh (25 minutes)
Synopsis: Nora, a 15 year old teenager from Martinique, is forced to follow her mother Laure and her little sister Melissa, 6 years old, to the north of the island to live for a while with Henri, her grandfather, paralyzed since a stroke. They move in with the old man to provide him with daily help. But very quickly, the atmosphere of the house and the presence of Henri, will awaken in Nora childhood memories that will be embodied in the fear of the attack of an evil spirit...

Elles allaient danser by Laïs Decaster (30 minutes)
Synopsis: Paris in the middle of August. While looking for a place to dance, Janna and Auréa, in their early twenties, get lost. Their nocturnal wanderings in the deserted city lead them to reveal themselves to each other.

Le Feu au lac by Pierre Menahem (16 minutes)
Synopsis: A high mountain hamlet, at the beginning of summer. Felix comes down from the mountain pasture where he is watching his cows and discovers the body of his mother dead on her bed. Shocked, he runs away. He drives several kilometers into the valley to get to the young man who has just contacted him on a dating application.

Valentine Cadic's Big Vacation (25 minutes)
Synopsis: Blandine spends her vacations alone in a small campsite at the foot of the mountains. She is quickly invaded by the noise, the crowd and the rain that she was trying to escape for a summer. At the edge of the lake, Blandine meets Helio, a young local journalist.

Haut les cœurs by Adrian Moyse Dullin (15 minutes)
Synopsis: Kenza, 15, and her little brother Mahdi, 13, regularly stage themselves on social networks in an escalation of small cruelties and humiliations. Today, during a bus ride, Kenza puts her naive and romantic little brother to the test: make a declaration of love now to Jada; a girl Mahdi loves but doesn't know him. Put under pressure by his sister, Mahdi finally goes.

Ibiza by Hélène Rosselet-Ruiz and Marie Rosselet-Ruiz (20 minutes)
Synopsis: Sonia is about to go on vacation for the first time with her friends when she discovers that her mother has bought herself a Jacuzzi with the money she was going to use to go. She decides not to let it happen.

Jmar by Samy Sidali (20 minutes)
Synopsis: jmar alchahwa: a piece of red coal. A metaphor used to describe a feeling that warms, gives pleasure but can hurt if you get too close.On the beach of Mohammedia, a small coastal town in Morocco, Khaled sells horseback rides to walkers. He hangs out with his friends, they are in their twenties and fantasize about a sexuality that is forbidden to them. That day, Khaled meets someone and finds himself caught between the prohibitions he is confronted with and a desire that burns him from within.

Léo la nuit by Nans Laborde-Jourdàa (23 minutes)
Synopsis: Paul can't say no. He goes from job to job, from man's arm to man's arm without knowing what tomorrow will bring. This Wednesday, he has to look after his eight-year-old son, whom he did not raise and whom he had with Assa, a surgeon older than him.

Lucienne dans un monde sans solitude by Geordy Couturiau (31 minutes)
Synopsis: In a world without solitude, where everyone shares their life with their double, Lucienne has a relationship with Paul, a former lover who has lost his twin. He would like to find his brother; she thinks only of her love. Like individuality, the exclusive nature of this relationship could not be tolerated in this world, which soon inspires Lucienne with a feeling of disgust. Her desire then drives her away from her sister and probably from this man...

Leaving one day by Amélie Bonnin (24 minutes)
Synopsis: After graduating from high school, Julien left his hometown to build a bigger life in the capital, leaving his memories behind. And then one day, he has to come back, and that day his memories jump out at him, between two packages of pepitos.

King David by Lila Pinell (43 minutes)
Synopsis: Shana is looking for a job, she needs money to leave France and her bad company. But the past she is trying to forget is never far away. And besides, does she really want to forget it?

The King who contemplated the sea by Jean-Sébastien Chauvin (24 minutes)
Synopsis: Ousmane arrives in a Mediterranean seaside resort. He is enjoying a few moments by the sea, when his gaze is caught by the arrival of a muscular man with a tanned complexion. This stranger becomes his obsession, feeding a destabilizing desire.

Sami the Runaway by Vincent Tricon (25 minutes)
Synopsis: It is winter in Franche-Comté. Sami is committed to a psychiatric center. One day, his mother and his little sister tell him that their horse is dead.

Solarium by Jonathan Koulavsky (30 minutes)
Synopsis: Johnny, 16, is a young apprentice trotting driver. He alternates between classes and weeks of apprenticeship in a stable, where Jean teaches him the trade. The realization that Coquelicot, a recently arrived horse who is struggling to prove himself, is in danger makes him doubt his vocation.

His Highness Protocol by Aurélie Reinhorn (29 minutes)
Synopsis: Excellent first day to you of the rest of your fairy life where everything will be magic, enchantment and mischief. Well, normally there is a choreography but I don't really want to do it for you. Once upon a time there was Wanda and her beginnings as an employee in an amusement park.

T'es morte Hélène by Michiel Blanchart (24 minutes)
Synopsis: Maxime, a young man in search of stability, is literally haunted by the ghost of his recently deceased girlfriend Hélène. Wishing to put an end to this unbearable situation, Maxime finally decides to break up with her. Hélène does not seem ready to accept this decision.

Titan by Valery Carnoy (19 minutes)
Synopsis: Thirteen-year-old Nathan is about to meet up with his new friend Malik's gang to participate in a strange ritual.

Tsutsué by Amartei Armar 16 minutes)
Synopsis: Sowa and Okai, two fisherman's sons, live in a small Ghanaian town bordered by an open dump that spills into the ocean. Haunted by his older brother's disappearance at sea, Okai believes he sees his body floating among the garbage.

Les Vertueuses by Stéphanie Halfon (30 minutes)
Synopsis: Etel, 9 years old, an orthodox Jew, has her period for the first time. Her mother, Myriam, finally looks at her as a woman. Etel is delighted, until she discovers that in her religion women are impure when they menstruate.

Warsha by Dania Bdeir (16 minutes)
Synopsis: Mohammad, a Syrian migrant, works on a construction site in Beirut. That day, something pushes him to volunteer to drive the highest and most dangerous crane in Lebanon...

(Source : official website)