Céline Sciamma

Conservatives called for strikes, but more than 46,000 French pupils still watched it at school. Before she made “Portrait of a Lady on Fire”, Céline Sciamma told the story of a ten-year-old girl who moves to a new neighbourhood and introduces herself to the kids there as a boy. — When a ten-year-old girl moves to the Paris suburbs with her parents and little sister, she sets out to make friends with the only girl in a gang of boys. Seeing the short hair, the clothes and the way she carries herself, the girl takes her for a boy. That will make things easier, so she introduces herself to the rest of the gang as a boy as well. — Teddy Jury Award | Berlin International Film Festival | 2011

Céline Sciamma (“Portrait of a Lady on Fire”) opens a door onto what it means to be a teenage girl, with four leads she found on the streets of Paris, none of whom had acted before. When they sing every word of Rihanna’s “Diamonds” in a hotel room, life can wait until the song is over. — Sixteen-year-old Marieme looks after her little sister on a housing estate outside Paris, and she has just been told she’s going to vocational school instead of high school. Her older brother rules at home, because their mother works from morning till night. When three girls from the estate ask her to come into the city with them, she says no, then changes her mind. — Nominated for Most Promising Actress (Karidja Touré) | César Awards | 2015 Nominated for Best Director | César Awards | 2015