Big girls don’t cry triumph at Nouvelles Vagues

The beautiful New Zealand coming of age story was acclaimed by Kristen Stewart’s jury, which also notably rewarded Congo Boy, also crowned with the Audience Award

We had sensed it from the applause meter and by observing Kristen Stewart and her jury at the end of her screening: Big girls don’t cry signed by New Zealander Paloma Schneideman succeeds Urchin by Harris Dickinson at the top of the Grand Prix prize list at the Nouvelles Vagues festival. Discovered at Sundance, this marvel of an initiatory story where we follow the summer of a teenager’s 14th birthday, magnificently portrayed by debutant Ani Palmer, has to date no distributor in France. Let’s hope that this Grand Prix can change the situation

Another big winner of this 20206 edition of the Biarritz festival: Congo boy by Rafiki Fariala (to be seen in theaters on November 25) has won two awards. This story, largely inspired by the own life of its director – a Congolese who fled the war with his family, at 3 months old, to live in the Central African Republic where, against all odds, he managed to make a career in music – earned its main actor Bradley Fiomona Dembeasset (as in the Cannes section Un Certain Regard) the acting prize, combined with the Audience Award

The rest of the list confirms the premium given to our favorites of this 2026 edition. No good men (to be seen on February 3) by Shahrbanoo Sadat, a unique romantic comedy set against the backdrop of the comeback of the Taliban regime in Afghanistan, won the Jury Prize. Teenage sex and death at Camp Miasma by the rising star of US indie horror Jane Schoenbrun, a well-aimed homage to the slasher genre, carried by the duo Hannah Einbinder-Gillian Anderson, received the very appropriate Special Mention. La Gradivathe 2h30 fresco by Marine Atlan (in theaters November 4), a teen movie tipping into a Douglas Sirk-style melodrama, leaves with the Jury Prize for high school students and apprentices (bringing together 60 people aged 15 to 20). Finally, last but not least, Animolthe first feature by Ashley Waters, a queer prison thriller, was acclaimed by the Pass Culture Jury (made up of 8 young people aged 18-19)

Complete winners of Nouvelles Vagues 2026:

Grand Prize: Big Girls Don’t Cry by Paloma Schneideman

Jury Prize: No good men by Shahrbanoo Sadat

Interpretation Award: Bradley Fiomona Dembeasset in Congo Boy

Special mention: Teenage Sex And Death At Camp Miasma by Jane Schoenbrun

Audience Award: Congo boy by Rafiki Fariala

Culture Pass Jury Prize: Animol by Ashley Waters

Jury Prize for high school students and apprentices: La Gradiva by Marine Atlan