Cannes 2025: “Imago” by Déni Oumar Pitsaev, winner of the Golden Eye and the French Touch Prize from the Critics’ Week jury

Le Cannes film festival, as part of its 78th edition, was once again the scene of notable cinematic revelations. While waiting to know if the Palme d'Or will be awarded to Julia Ducournau for “ Alpha ", to the Iranian Jafar Panahi for " It Was Just an Accident » or even to the Norwegian Joachim Trier for « Sentimental Value "In the main competition, Critics' Week, a parallel section focusing on first and second films and of which French Touch is a partner, unveiled its winners on Wednesday, during a ceremony that closed a 64th edition marked by the diversity of proposals and the fervor of the public.

Among the prizes awarded, it was the Chechen Déni Oumar Pitsaev who received the French Touch Jury Prize for " Imago ". A financial incentive and a symbolic recognition of cinematic excellence. This prize, which is part of a partnership between the French Touch and Critics' Week for the fourth consecutive year, aims to highlight " the creativity and audacity of a unique cinematic gesture ", as Nicolas Parpex, pilot of the Touch plan, explains to us. Imago » by Déni Oumar Pitsaev therefore succeeds « Aftersun » by Charlotte Wells, winner of the French Touch prize in 2022, « It's raining in the house » by Paloma Sermon-Daï in 2023, and « Blue Sun Palace » by Constance Tsang, in 2024.

And the success of " Imago » was not confined to the Espace Miramar, where screenings and the ceremony took place: the film was also awarded the Golden Eye, the prize awarded each year to the best documentary at the Cannes Film Festival in all competitions, by the jury chaired by Julie Gayet.

Closing ceremony of the 64th Critics' Week

« Imago » by Déni Oumar Pitsaev: a documentary to tell his quest for identity

« Imago » is a documentary that involves traits of the fictional genre. The director, Déni Oumar Pitsaev, also takes on the role of the central character, confronted with an intrinsic duality and pursuing a quest to find his place. The film, which presents itself as an inner journey but also with roots in collective memory, tells of his return to the Pankisi Valley, an isolated valley in Georgia located on the Chechen border, where traditions and heritage collide with the desire for freedom, the unfulfilled dreams of each and every one, and the difficulty of emancipation, against a backdrop of trauma left by war and exile. The title, « Imago ", also refers to a concept in psychoanalysis and biology: the imago in psychoanalysis is an unconscious psychic representation of parental figures, which is constructed from the experiences lived by the child with his relatives, mixed with cultural representations. While in biology, the imago is the final stage of the development of an individual which passes through several phases: egg, larva, then imago, just before molting. Here, the term becomes a powerful metaphor for the quest for self and the need to transform oneself to break the emotional and cultural immobility, which the main character is confronted with: if the imago fails, it is the entire offspring which finds itself frozen in an unfinished state.

Déni Oumar Pitsaev evokes these questions through intimate and sometimes painful dialogues – including a poignant exchange between the main character and his father in the woods… – which expose the latent conflict between tradition and the desire for renewal, between family and social expectations and personal aspirations without putting anyone at odds, between wounds and unspoken things and the desire to move forward. On the visual level (Sylvain Verdet and Joachim Philippe are the two directors of photography who worked on the film), " Imago » is imbued with a thoughtful and poetic aesthetic, between grandiose landscapes of Georgian mountains, more austere concrete environments, and meticulous framing allowing to linger on symbolic details. The balance of these aesthetic choices reinforces the meditative and “immersive” atmosphere of the film, and leaves room to gradually build a dramatic tension that densifies (the film is a “ slow burner ", which refers to a film whose narration takes its time), but never becomes unbearable, thanks to the editing choices of Laurent Sénéchal (having worked on Anatomie d'une Chute, Palme d'Or in 2023) and Dounia Sichov who demonstrate a desire to let emotions unfold – a slowness that some viewers may find difficult to appreciate, but which reflects both the love that the characters have for each other, the fragility of their relationships, and, for some, the desire to transform themselves, inviting us to take this path too.

Interviewed on the Croisette a few moments after receiving his prize, the director said: “ The filming lasted six weeks, which is quite short.. Many people think that this is a hybrid film between fiction and documentary, but it is purely a documentary, there is no fiction in this film. It is the work of writing, also during the shooting and editing, which gives this fictional aspect, but there was never an additional take. We even tried to "damage" the film during the editing, we chose the images that were the most shaky and those where people look the least at the camera so that we remember that it is indeed a documentary. My family and friends very easily accepted this camera as close to them as possible, they were very available, empathetic and opened their hearts. I hope that this film will give them back some of the love they gave me. I know that this film shows both great tenderness but also a distance from Chechen traditions, that was the goal. Cinema allowed me to reconcile everything. For the visual side, I drew a lot of inspiration from painting and from a director Olivier Laxe and his film The fire will come, (film released in 2019, which won the Jury Prize in the Un Certain Regard section. Olivier Laxe presented his film this year Sirat in official competition, editor's note) ».

« Imago » by Déni Oumar Pitsaev is an original work, full of audacity, which challenges as much by the emotion it provokes as by the aesthetic quality offered. By awarding him the French Touch Jury Prize, the Semaine de la critique, a true springboard for the new generation of filmmakers, confirms its essential role in the discovery of talents which contribute to redefine the contours of contemporary cinema, and the importance of the French Touch in supporting innovation in cinematographic art in France.