Francophone Youth Jury Award at TIFF.24

The TV5MONDE and French Institute Award was presented this year to the film La Pampa. The debut feature by Antoine Chevrollier captures a defining transitional moment in adolescence. At the heart of the story are two friends, Willy and Jojo, who, against a backdrop of motorcycle races and everyday tensions, try to understand who they are and who they want to become. The film navigates the character’s inner conflict between the desire to please others and the need to discover his true self. The story is told with empathy, offering a unifying perspective in an increasingly polarized world.

The Francophone Youth Jury also gave a special mention to Le Mohican (dir. Frédéric Farrucci), a Corsican neo-western that stands out for its universality, originality, and the sense of hope it conveys through the power of community in confronting injustice.

The Francophone Youth Jury at TIFF 2025 is one of the many projects jointly developed by the French Institute and TV5MONDE in support of young people and Francophonie. The award has been presented at TIFF for the twelfth consecutive year.

This year’s jury consisted of six young Romanian Francophones, students in fields ranging from film and medicine to mathematics and computer science: Radu-Mihai Aldea, Anaïs-Zara Dragu, Katia Hiver, Maria Marina, Daria Răduțiu, and Ioan Șteopoaie. The jury was coordinated by Clémentine Cœdès, head of university cooperation at the French Institute, and guided in their deliberations by mentor Corina Șuteu. The award was chosen from a curated selection of six French-language films.