Unifrance and Film at Lincoln Center announce the winners of the 31st edition of Rendez-Vous with French Cinema, with In a Whisper by Leyla Bouzid receiving the Best Emerging Filmmaker Award and Colors of Times by Cédric Klapisch winning the Audience Award.

Tickets for the 31st edition of the festival grew by 23% over 2025 with highly attended screenings throughout the series, and 10,500 tickets issued, including 897 students attending free education screenings and more than 50 people attending free talks. Of the 22 feature films in this year’s lineup, 10 are directed by women, seven were directed by filmmakers making their festival debut, and 15 directors had films in past installments of Rendez-Vous with French Cinema.

The Best Emerging Filmmaker Award winner, Leyla Bouzid’s In a Whisper, stars Eya Bouteraa as Lilia, a woman who returns to her native Tunisia for her uncle’s funeral to discover surprising details about his personal life that resonate with the secrets she keeps from her family. The film had its world premiere at the Berlin International Film Festival. The Best Emerging Filmmaker Student Jury praised the film’s cinematography, noting how it elevates every aspect of the work and contributes to a seamless blend of emotion, storytelling and visual artistry.

The Best Emerging Filmmaker Award is designed to bring attention to the unique cinematic point of view of emerging filmmakers and their interpretation of France’s new and diverse identities, and to encourage young people to attend the festival. 

Audience Award winner Colors of Time by Cédric Klapisch premiered at the 2025 Cannes Film Festival to critical acclaim. The film is set between Normandy and Paris and centers on questions of family history and generational connection, reflecting Klapisch’s continued interest in ensemble storytelling. The film follows four distant cousins who reunite at a family home in Normandy and retrace the steps of their 19th-century ancestor to Paris.

Student jury listed from L to R: Danylo Boiko, Beatriz Coelho de Soárez, Sia Mehta, Hanuel Lee, Emmalina Wilson, and Josephine Simonian. Photography by Sean DiSerio.

Best Emerging Filmmaker Student Jury

Six New York City college students were invited to participate in the Best Emerging Filmmaker Student Jury, and to choose their favorite first or second feature from this year’s Rendez-Vous lineup. The students were chosen by the professors of Rendez-Vous’ partner universities. 

Danylo Boiko, CUNY Hunter College, Film
Danylo is a rising filmmaker who immigrated to New York from Ukraine. Having lived in Europe for most of his life, he is excited to reconnect with French cinema. He is a junior at Hunter College, pursuing a Bachelor of Arts in Film, and currently serves as president of the Ukrainian Club. In addition to directing and producing his own films, he also excels as an actor.

Beatriz Coelho de Soárez, School of Visual Arts, BFA Film
Beatriz is a student at the School of Visual Arts in Manhattan. Hailing from Brazil, she is a writer and producer who enjoys hands-on work and making worlds come true. She has worked on several student and non-union productions and is excited to join the union after graduating from film school.

Sia Mehta, New York University, Tisch School of the Arts, Dept. of Dramatic Writing
Sia Mehta is a New York City–based and NYU Tisch-educated filmmaker, writer, and producer whose work centers on women of color and underrepresented voices. She explores youth, grief, and coming of age through intimate storytelling across documentary, narrative film, and writing. She is currently in post-production for her fourth narrative short film. Sia has worked with the Toronto International Film Festival, Stay Gold Features, the Voices of Francophone Cinema Film Festival at NYU, as well as numerous independent productions, and is a member of New York Women in Film and Television.

Hanuel Lee, CUNY Hunter College, Film Production
Hanuel Lee is a filmmaker and artist based in the Bronx. As the predator’s eyes face only forward, their work is piercing iron, cold, and tempered. They are motivated by wrath, which is translated into a gaze that stares back at the consumer. They are in constant conversation with the physical medium of their work—whether it be film, painting, or sculpture.

Emmalina Wilson, CUNY College of Staten Island, Media Culture
Emmalina Wilson is a student filmmaker at the College of Staten Island and a CUNY Peer Leader. They have a certificate of completion from École Internationale de Création Audiovisuelle et de Réalisation, recognizing their work in the “Filmmaking in France” study abroad program. They hope to return to France soon to pursue a graduate education in Film Studies.

Josephine Simonian, Columbia University, Film
Josephine is a Directing concentrate in the Film program at Columbia University, in her last year. Prior to coming to New York City, she worked at UNESCO in Paris in the Education department, after studying humanities.

UNIFRANCE
Founded in 1949, Unifrance is the organisation responsible for promoting French cinema and TV content worldwide.
Located in Paris, Unifrance employs around 50 staff members, as well as representatives based in the U.S., in China, and in Japan. The organisation currently brings together more than 1,000 French cinema and TV content professionals (producers, talents, agents, sales companies, etc.) working together to promote French films and TV programmes among foreign audiences, industry executives, and media.
Unifrance receives generous year-round support from the French Republic, CNC, and PROCIREP. Visit unifrance.org for more information and follow @unifrance on Instagram, YouTube, Facebook, Threads, and Bluesky.

About Unifrance’s 10 to Watch Program
Selected for the excellence of their work by international journalists Rebecca Leffler (Screen International), Fabien Lemercier (Cineuropa), Elsa Keslassy (Variety), Christine Masson (France Inter), and Jordan Mintzer (The Hollywood Reporter), the actors and directors that make up the 10 to Watch 2025 selection embody the reinvigoration of French cinema through the freedom and singularity of their artistic choices, their ambition, audacity, and openness to the world.

FILM AT LINCOLN CENTER

Film at Lincoln Center (FLC) is a nonprofit organization that celebrates cinema as an essential art form and fosters a vibrant home for film culture to thrive. FLC presents premier film festivals, retrospectives, new releases, and restorations year-round in state-of-the-art theaters at New York’s Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts. FLC offers audiences the opportunity to discover works from established and emerging directors from around the world with a passionate community of film lovers at marquee events including the New York Film Festival and New Directors/New Films.

Founded in 1969, FLC is committed to preserving the excitement of the theatrical experience for all audiences, advancing high-quality film journalism through the publication of Film Comment, cultivating the next generation of film industry professionals through our FLC Academies, and enriching the lives of all who engage with our programs.

Rolex is the Official Partner and Exclusive Timepiece of Film at Lincoln Center.

Film at Lincoln Center receives generous, year-round support from the National Endowment for the Arts and the New York State Council on the Arts with the support of the Office of the Governor and the New York State Legislature. For more information, visit filmlinc.org and follow @filmlinc on X and Instagram.

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Julia Pacetti, Verdant Communications, [email protected]

For press inquiries regarding Film at Lincoln Center, please contact:
John Kwiatkowski, Film at Lincoln Center, [email protected]
Eva Tooley, Film at Lincoln Center, [email protected]

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