10 French directors, writers and actors to watch in 2025

Selected by international journalists Rebecca Leffler (Screen International), Fabien Lemercier (Cineuropa), Elsa Keslassy (Variety), Christine Masson (France Inter), and Jordan Mintzer (The Hollywood Reporter), these 10 talents to watch have been chosen for their artistic choices, ambitions and the potential of their contribution to French cinema.

Unifrance honours this new generation of directors and actors, whose exciting work in French cinema, and, for some of them, in TV productions, is making a global impact.

Adam Bessa, actor

Born in Grasse to Tunisian parents, actor Adam Bessa first drew attention in 2017 in Sofia Djama’s The Blessed and earned a nomination for the César Academy’s Revelations list the following year. Having starred in international films including Matthew Michael Carnahan’s Mosul, Sam Hargrave’s Extraction and Thierry Binisti’s The Channel, Bessa’s performance in Lotfy Nathan’s 2022 drama Harka earned him acting awards in Cannes’ Un Certain Regard, the Red Sea Film Festival and Saint-Jean-de-Luz. In 2024 he starred in Jonathan Millet’s Ghost Trail, which played Cannes’ Critics Week (La Semaine de la Critique) and earned him the best actor award at El Gouna and a further nomination for the 2025 César Academy’s Revelations list. He also starred in Amazon Prime series Ourika and Meryam Joobeur’s Berlin competition feature Who Do I Belong To.

Ludovic & Zoran Boukherma, directors, writers

After studying at La Cité du Cinéma in Paris, Ludovic and Zoran Boukherma co-directed comedy drama Willy the 1^st with Hugo P. Thomas and Marielle Gautier which premiered in Cannes ACID in 2016 and won the Prix d’Ornano-Valenti award for best debut feature at the Deauville American Film Festival. In 2019, they directed Teddy, a genre film that received the Cannes 2020 label, and the following year shot the comedy horror Year Of The Shark. Their most recent film, an adaptation of Nicolas Mathieu’s novel And Their Children After Them, played Venice competition in 2024, where star Paul Kircher was awarded the Marcello-Mastroianni Award for best young actor.

Julien Colonna, director, writer

After completing a master’s degree in social sciences at Paris-IX Dauphine University, filmmaker and photographer Julien Colonna studied screenwriting and made several short films. HIs first, 2015’s Confession shot in the slums of Bangkok, and toured the festival circuit. In 2017, his first screenplay, Equinoxes, received the Télérama Prix Sopadin for best unproduced scripts. In 2024, his first feature, The Kingdom, shot entirely in Corsica with mostly non-professional actors, and played in Cannes’ Un Certain Regard and other international festivals. It will be distributed in the US in March 2025.

Louise Courvoisier, director, writer

Louise Courvoisier studied cinema at the CinéFabrique in Lyon. Her graduation short film, Mano A Mano, an intimate look at an acrobatic couple, won the Cinéfondation prize at Cannes in 2019 and was selected for several international festivals. Her debut feature Holy Cow, a saga set in her childhood village, was presented in Cannes’ Un Certain Regard in 2024, where it won the Youth Award. Winner of best film and the audience award in Valladolid’s Punto de Encuentro, and nominated for three Lumières awards, it has been sold to over 20 territories including Germany, Spain, Italy, and the US.

Sayyid El Alami, actor, director

Sayyid El Alami began his career in 2017 acting in several short films, including Félix Imbert’s Basses, which played Cannes Directors’ Fortnight in 2018. In 2019, he appeared in Bertrand Bonello’s Zombi Child, and the following year took a lead role in Michael Petroni’s Netflix series Messiah. In 2021, he appeared in the series Une Si Longue Nuit, a French-language adaptation of the UK series Criminal Justice, and Antoine Chevrollier’s Oussekine. In 2024, he starred in two feature films, Ludovic and Zoran Boukherma’s Venice competition title And Their Children After Them, and Antoine Chevrollier’s Block Pass, which played Cannes’ Critics Week (La Semaine de la Critique).

India Hair, actress

Born in Saumur to a Franco-American father and a UK mother, India Hair landed her first role in Raphaël Jacoulot’s 2011 drama The Night Clerk. In 2012, she received the Lumières award for most promising actress and was nominated for a most promising actress César for her performance in Noémie Lvovsky’s Camille Rewinds. After a series of roles in films including Staying Vertical, Bloody Milk and Mandibles and television, including The Odd Girl and Mouche, in 2021 she was again nominated for a César for most promising actress for her role in Olivier Babinet’s Fishlove. In 2024, Hair appeared in Aude Lea Rapin’s Planet B, Julie Delpy’s Meet The Barbarians and Emmanuel Mouret’s Venice competition title Three Friends.

Lou Lampros, actress

Lou Lampros made her film debut in 2018 in Rodrigo Sorogoyen’s Madre, presented at the Venice film festival. The following year she landed a role in Frédéric Garcia’s series Mortel and appeared in Wes Anderson’s The French Dispatch and Élie Wajeman’s The Night Doctor. After roles in Emmanuelle Bercot’s Peaceful, Lucas Delangle’s The Strange Case Of Jacky Caillou and Christopher Thompson’s series The Huguenots. Lamptos was nominated for the 2023 César academy’s Revelations list for her performance in Antoinette Boulat’s My Night. In 2024 she took a starring role in Gael Morel’s To Live, To Die, To Live Again.

Jonathan Millet, director, writer

After studying philosophy and then shooting footage in over 50 countries for image databases, Jonathan Millet began directing short films including 2018’s César-nominated And Still We Will Walk On. He also made documentaries including 2014’s Ceuta, Prison By The Sea, 2017’s Tell Me About The Stars and 2021’s La Disparition. Millet’s debut feature Ghost Trail opened Cannes’ Critics Week (La Semaine de la Critique) in 2024 before playing numerous festivals and winning France’s prestigious Louis Delluc prize for best first feature. Millet is developing his next film, Les Rêves-Tempêtes.

Megan Northam, actress

Franco-British actress Megan Northam won both the Adami award for best actress at short film festival Clermont-Ferrand and the most promising female newcomer award at the Festival Jean Carmet for her role in Thomas Vernay’s 2019 short Miss Chazelles. After starring in a variety of projects including Mikhaël Hers’ Berlin 2022 title The Passengers Of The Night and Cédric Klapisch’s Greek Salad series, she received the Series Mania Actress Revelation award in 2023. In 2024 Northam starred in Mareike Engelhardt’s Rabia – for which she has been nominated for the 2025 Revelations of the César academy – along with Jérémy Clapin’s Meanwhile On Earth, and Lucie Prost’s Fario. Northam will soon be seen in feature films directed by Harris Dickinson and Gaya Jiji, as well as in Jean-Xavier de Lestrade’s series Des vivants.

Agathe Riedinger, director

A graduate of the École Nationale Supérieure des Arts Décoratifs de Paris (ENSAD), writer, director and photographer Agathe Riedinger experiments with different types of narrative to explore themes such as emancipation and the female condition. She directed the short films Waiting For Jupiter, nominated for the best short film César award in 2019, and Ève, which was selected at Clermont-Ferrand and Sarajevo, among other film festivals. Her debut feature, Wild Diamond, was presented in Cannes competition in 2024 and has sold to over 15 territories, including Germany, Spain and the US.