Charles Audinet: “We are trying to bring a different kind of cinema to life,” says Charles Audinet. Last year, we won the Un Certain Regard prize with “The Mysterious Gaze of the Pink Flamingo,” directed by Chilean filmmaker Diego Cespedes. As a result, Diego Cespedes is part of the official competition jury in 2026. We also won the screenplay award for “Ciudad sin sueño,” by Spanish Guillermo Galoe, which was screened during the Critics’ Week. And “Militantropos,” a documentary about the war in Ukraine, was selected for the Directors’ Fortnight.”
To support this cinema from elsewhere, Les Valseurs relies on the Nouvelle-Aquitaine region, which has set up a fund for international co-production. “It’s often the first aid we receive, and it leverages finding other funding from the Metropolis, CNC, or television channels,” says Audinet. Thanks to this fund, we were able to start producing feature films, benefiting from the presence of visual effects professionals in Bordeaux, and sound design professionals in Rochefort.”
While they have provided technical and logistical support to other production companies, as during the filming of “Chopin Chopin!” in Bordeaux in 2024, Les Valseurs is primarily focused on production and discovering talent. They discovered Abinash Bikram Shah, the director of “Elephants in the Mist,” in 2022, already at Cannes, where he received a special mention from the jury for his short film “Lori.” In 2026, he presents the first film by a Nepalese filmmaker on the Croisette. Will it be successful? Find out on Friday, the 22nd.
