France’s National Centre for Cinema and the Moving Image (CNC) has announced the six projects selected in the second 2025 session of its advance-on-receipts programme. Among the most notable are The Diary of a Chambermaid, the new film by Romanian director Radu Jude, and Je m’appelle Sophie Calle et je suis encore vivante, the latest documentary by French filmmaker Sébastien Lifshitz.

Jude’s new work will be a minority co-production with Romania, led by Saïd Ben Saïd through SBS Productions. The filmmaker — awarded the Golden Bear at the Berlinale for Bad Luck Banging or Loony Porn (2021) and the Silver Bear for Aferim! (2015) — tells the story of a young Romanian woman who travels to France to work for a local family, and who simultaneously joins an amateur theatre company preparing an adaptation of The Diary of a Chambermaid, the novel by Octave Mirbeau published in 1900. The book has previously been adapted for the screen by directors such as Jean Renoir (1946) and Luis Buñuel (1964).

Lifshitz — known for acclaimed documentaries like Les Invisibles, Adolescents and Little Girl — will work with Agat Films on a new film focused on artist Sophie Calle.

The CNC will also support Ulysse by Laetitia Masson (À vendre), produced by ARP Sélection; and Les Caprices de l’Enfant Roi by Michel Leclerc (The Names of Love), produced by Mandarin & Compagnie alongside Elephant Story.

In the category of second and third feature films, the selected titles include Un détour par Diane by Ann Sirot and Raphaël Balboni (Madly in Life), produced by Marianne Productions; and Si tu n’es pas prêt pour le jour, the second documentary by Ioanis Nuguet after Spartacus & Cassandra, which will be produced by Niskala Films.