Elsa Keslassy International CorrespondentGina Gammell and Riley Keough’s “War Pony,” Charlotte Wells’ “Aftersun” and Agnieszka Smoczyńska’s “The Silent Twins” are among the several female-driven anticipated feature debuts slated for the Deauville American Film Festival’s competition.Eight titles out of 13 features set to compete at Deauville as first films. “War Pony” world premiered at Un Certain Regard in Cannes and won the Camera d’Or for best debut. “War Pony” is a collaborative experience portraying two young Oglala Lakota men who are torn between traditions and the consumer culture surrounding them. “The Silent Twins,” which also bowed at Un Certain Regard, is a biopic of troubled twin writers June and Jennifer Gibbons starring Letitia Wright and Tamara Lawrance. “Aftersun,” meanwhile, world premiered at Cannes’ Critics Week where it won the French Touch Prize and was acquired by A24.

The melodrama stars Paul Mescal and newcomer Frankie Corio as a young father and his 11-year-old daughter who are on holiday at a resort in Turkey in the late 1990s.Other notable titles competing include Chloe Okuno’s “Watcher,” which bowed at Sundance and won best feature at the Boston Underground Film Festival.“Ever since 1995, the year when the festival became a competition, it has been our ambition to showcase the best of American independent cinema,” said Deauville Festival director Bruno Barde.“This edition’s filmmakers, many making their feature debuts, aspire to provide an artistic answer to questions posed by the world,” continued Barde, who described the competition as “rugged and appealing.”Barde said those films are “interrogating our future” and “examine childhood and youth with troubling and moving acuity, making a.

Deauville Film Festival Unveils Competition Lineup, Including ‘War Pony’ and ‘Aftersun’

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