Best of Fest Encore Screening
This bold, disquieting and psychologically complex drama follows a 12-year-old girl suddenly freed from years of captivity and sexual abuse at the hands of her father, who kept her home-schooled and hidden from society. When the police and social services step in, Dalva goes from an intense and intimate relationship with the father whom she loves as a woman loves a man, to a chaotic group home where she doesn’t at first fit in. But as Dalva befriends her new roommate Samia and social worker Jayden, she gradually comes to understand that the love she shared with her father was not what she thought. With their help, Dalva will learn to become a child again. Director Nicot takes pains to keep all the abuse offscreen in the backstory and never exploits her young leading actor, a non-professional with tremendous presence. Winner, FIPRESCI Prize, Rising Star Award, Cannes –Alissa Simon
Director Biography
Born in 1985 in Sedan, Ardennes, France, Emmanuelle Nicot is a graduate of Institut des Arts de Diffusion (Belgium). She wrote and directed the short film “À l'arraché” (2016), which appeared at festivals around the world, and Love According to Dalva (2022), her debut feature.
This film is part of Young French Cinema, a program of Unifrance and Villa Albertine.
