France/2022—directed by Alice Diop | 122 minutes

Rama (Kayije Kagame), a successful Parisian journalist, has come to the small French town of Saint Omer to attend the trial of a young Senegalese woman charged with killing her baby daughter. Although she admits to the act, Laurence (Guslagie Malanda) cannot or will not describe her motivation, claiming it was out of her control and adding, “I don’t know. I hope this trial can help me understand.”

The complex mysteries at the heart of this absorbing, wholly original take on both the courtroom drama and the African immigrant experience unfold like a Russian nesting doll. Is the accused a liar, a victim, a sorceress, or all of the above?  

In her remarkable fiction feature debut, Senegalese-French documentarian Alice Diop constructs a captivating, sensitive, superbly acted drama of continuously revealing layers. At once a modern suspense classic, a work of psychological portraiture and a provocative examination of the limits of cross-cultural knowledge, Saint Omer is France’s official submission for Best International Feature to the 2023 Academy Awards®. Silver Lion Winner, Venice Film Festival.

“Extraordinary from beginning to end. Compelling and finely wrought, Saint Omer tears the heart and boggles the mind.” —Amy Taubin, Artforum