VIVA CARMEN

France, Luxembourg, Spain | 2026 | 90′
In French with Slovenian and English subtitles

ABOUT THE FILM

It’s 1840 in Seville, a pulsating town of sailors and small-time crooks. Salvador, a young assistant to the gifted knife grinder Antonio, meets a captivating gypsy girl named Carmen. Her rapturous beauty and independent spirit are the talk of the town, but Antonio’s ability to glimpse the future foretells a tragic fate. With unwavering resolve, Salvador will muster an eclectic band of misfit kids, led by the spirited Belén, to protect Carmen against the unyielding threads of destiny, igniting the ancient city’s alleyways in a symphony of emotions.

CREW

Directed by: Sébastien Laudenbach
Written by: Santiago Otheguy, Sébastien Laudenbach
Based on an original idea by: Pierre-Henri Léon, Sébastien Laudenbach (based on the opera by Georges Bizet)
Music: Amine Bouhafa, Isabelle Laudenbach
Editing: Catherine Aladenise
Sound Design: Carolina Santana
Art Director: Cyril Pedrosa
Producers: Damien Brunner, Sarah Delmas, Pierre-Henri Léon, Pablo Jordí
Production: Folivari, La Garde Montante, France 3 Cinéma, Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes Cinéma, Pikkukala
Cast: Camélia Jordana, Milo Machado-Graner, Soumaye Bocoum, Carl Malapa, Gaëtan Dupont, Évan Paturel, Paul Minthe, Olga Milshtein, Nadège Beausson Diagne, Maxime Bailleul, Félix Kysyl, Benjamin Cannone, Gaëtan Peau, Suzanne Levy-Aris

DIRECTOR’S STATEMENT

Carmen occupies a very unique place in the history of opera: it is the most frequently performed opera in the world, even though it was a failure at the time of its premiere. It is also one of the most frequently staged and interpreted stories of femicide in art and literature. The moment I began to take an interest in this project coincided with a very vivid realization on my part that, as a 45-year-old cisgender white man, I occupied a privileged position in a world made by and for men like myself. […] And this realization, this beginning of a profound change within me, coincided with the issue of femicide, whose ongoing relevance has since constantly reminded us of its unfortunately universal and contemporary nature.

Approaching Carmen through the lens of childhood gave me the opportunity to tell the story in a different light, from a new perspective. It also allowed me to envision a film that, as I hoped, could also speak to a young audience.

Above all, I seek to make films that feel alive, and I believe that in animation, this comes through the unfinished, the sketch that retains a certain spontaneity of line even as the extremely long process of making an animated film tends to freeze things in place. I like to say that, for me, the film is a sketch. That sense of incompleteness, of air in the drawing, is also found in the sets.

AWARDS AND FESTIVALS (SELECTION)

  • Directors’ Fortnight Audience Award Nominee, Cannes FF 2026
  • Official Competition, Annecy IAFF 2026
  • Centrepiece Program, Toronto IFF 2026
  • Horizons, Karlovy Vary IFF 2026
  • European Animated Feature Film Nominee, European Film Awards 2026
  • World Cinema, BIFF, South Korea, 2026