German director Kilian Armando Friedrich has won the Grand Prize at the 13th Saint-Jean-de-Luz International Film Festival with I Understand Your Displeasure, his first fiction feature and the top honour of the Basque coast event. The festival in south-west France is dedicated to first and second films, and its jury was chaired by Iranian actress Zar Amir.
Friedrich’s film had its world premiere in the Panorama section of the Berlinale earlier in the year. Films Boutique is selling it worldwide, and New Story has picked it up for a French cinema release in 2027. Amir led a jury that also included Pauline Seigland, Frédéric Farrucci, Enya Baroux and Nicolas Maury. Amir, an actress with a strong international profile, oversaw a competition made up entirely of filmmakers at an early stage of their careers, in keeping with the festival’s purpose of spotting new directors before they become established names.
Spanish cinema had a strong showing across the awards list. Júlia de Paz won best direction for The Good Daughter, a Spanish-Belgian production, while Dani Sancho’s North To Paradise, a Spanish-French title, took the audience award. French performers claimed both acting prizes. Stefan Crepon was named best male performer for Chemical Bond, directed by Aurélien Peilloux, and Ella Benoît won the female performance award for Rain Dogs, directed by Maxime Roy, giving home-grown talent both of the festival’s performance honours. Both of those films are French-Belgian co-productions.
Chemical Bond collected a second honour when the jury gave a special mention to its cinematographer, Jeanne Lapoirie. Canada also made the list: Jennifer Alleyn’s Kaïros won both the youth jury prize and the prize from the MédIas jury, making it one of the few titles to leave the festival with two awards. Taken together, the prize list covered fiction from five countries, with no single film dominating the main categories beyond the Grand Prize.
Saint-Jean-de-Luz has built its identity around emerging directors, and this year’s results reflect that focus, with a German debut at the top and recognition spread across Spain, France, Belgium and Canada. For Friedrich, the Grand Prize adds momentum to a film that already has a sales agent and a French distributor in place. Audiences in France will have to wait until 2027 to see it in cinemas, while the other prize-winners continue their own festival runs through the autumn.
