France - The Film Verdict

The Orchards

Posted by Ben Nicholson | Aug 22, 2025 | Festivals, Sarajevo 2025, Verdict Shorts |

Antoine Chapon repurposes eerie architectural animations in ‘The Orchards,’ a paean to a lost Damascus community that attempts to resist its eradication by a vindictive regime.

Merckx

Posted by Ben Nicholson | Feb 2, 2025 | Festivals, Rotterdam 2025 |

The exploits of the legendary Belgian cyclist Eddy Merckx are captured in this appreciative archival documentary about his all-conquering career.

At Dawn

Posted by Ben Nicholson | Sep 16, 2024 | Festivals, Oldenburg 2024, Verdict Shorts |

An elderly man savours the small things on what might be his final day alive in Antonin Bonnot’s patient and touching short, At Dawn.

Mi Bestia

Posted by Ben Nicholson | Sep 11, 2024 | Festivals, Oldenburg 2024 |

Religious rumours combine with a blood moon eclipse and a girl’s journey to womanhood in Mi Bestia, a beguiling coming-of-ager with fantasy elements from Camila Beltran.

Knit’s Island

Posted by Ben Nicholson | Oct 7, 2023 | Festivals, Leipzig 2023 |

A trio of documentarians traverse the forbidding digital landscapes of an online survivalist video game to explore the communities that have emerged there in this verité machinima, Knit’s Island.

Tag: France

The Orchards

Merckx

At Dawn

Mi Bestia

Knit’s Island