Summer Beats

Ma frère

France | 2025 | 112 min

Language: French

Subtitles: English

Suitable for audiences aged 7 and above

Director(s): Lise Akoka, Romane Gueret

Script: Romane Gueret, Lise Akoka, Catherine Paillé

Cast: Fanta Kebe, Shirel Nataf, Zakaria-Tayeb Lazab, Mouctar Diawara, Idir Azougli, Yuming Hey

Production: Superstructure

Distribution: The Festival Agency TFA

Comedy | Coming of Age | Drama

Female Director Summer Vibes Youth Friendship Matter of Mind Society Class Community

Screenings:

Gueret and Akoka’s sincere desire to create a “feelgood movie” – with some nutrition, and not just sugar – is commendable. The stakes pre-bus ride to the Drôme department are set, as we’re introduced to our focal characters Shaï (who’s Jewish and played by Shirel Nataf) and Djeneba (who’s of West African descent and played by Fanta Kebe), both youth workers still growing in their experience and professionalism. They’re our lenses through which to understand today’s young French teenagers on one of their first excursions free of parents, and are also hopefully relatable protagonists as adults, undergoing existential stress about their present and future. Together in their close friendship, and amongst the senior counsellors (led by French pop star and reality competition winner Amel Bent), they forge a necessary surrogate family, with Shaï’s horrible brother disapproving of her Muslim boyfriend Ismaël, and Djeneba’s infant daughter supervised by her own unreliable and neglectful mother.

David Katz, Cineuropa

Updated 2025-08-26 16:45:08 UTC