Private Project

First Dances

Auch, 2013. The local club's under-19s rugby team is competing in the French National Crabos championship. Among them, two future stars of the XV of France, Antoine Dupont and his best friend, Anthony Jelonch multiply the flashes ball in hand

The year of their final amateur season at home, in the Gers. In the mud, between tractor rides and village festivals, cruel defeats and unforgettable victories, which will have seen them turn the page on adolescence... and find friends for life.

  • Aline Magrez
    Director
    Queering Nature
  • David Alexander Cassan
    Director
    Are you still here ?
  • Brieux Férot
    Producer
    La Vida Reggaeton, Méduse, Standard, BXXL, Médine Normandie...
  • Antoine Dupont
    Key Cast
  • Anthony Jelonch
    Key Cast
  • Project Title (Original Language):
    Premières Danses
  • Project Type:
    Documentary
  • Genres:
    Teen, Sports, Society, rugby, rural, comedy, documentary, social
  • Runtime:
    1 hour 11 minutes 38 seconds
  • Completion Date:
    July 31, 2023
  • Production Budget:
    300,000 USD
  • Country of Origin:
    France
  • Country of Filming:
    France
  • Language:
    French
  • Shooting Format:
    Digital
  • Aspect Ratio:
    16:9
  • Film Color:
    Color
  • First-time Filmmaker:
    No
  • Student Project:
    No
  • Auch
    France
    August 31, 2023
    World Premiere
  • Paris
    France
    September 4, 2023
    France Rugby World Cup 2023 Premiere
Distribution Information
  • France.tv
    Distributor
    Country: France
    Rights: All Rights, Internet
Director Biography - Aline Magrez, David Alexander Cassan

David Alexander Cassan
Franco-American and a graduate of Sciences Po Paris, David is a freelance journalist and screenwriter (bilingual, therefore). He writes on cinema in So Film, on football in So Foot, on rugby in Tampon and on a host of more general subjects in Society. Screenwriter, he co-wrote an English-language fiction mini-series set in New York for Blackpills, Sons of God, and a musical documentary for Canal+, Are you still here?. His fiction projects are now at various stages of development.

Aline Magrez
From his first short films made at INSAS, including NO'I, a multiple award-winning documentary, to the ongoing post-production of his next documentary film, co-produced by RTBF, Queerying Nature (2023), eagerly awaited , Aline has drawn a unique trajectory as a director of the sensitive. His fictional short film, Ligie (2020) was selected at nearly twenty international festivals, and won several "best film" awards. She also directed Parallaxe (2017) for INSAS, as well as the video clip Brick and Mortar (2019) for MacGray. Her project Selling Miracles (2019) was also supported by the Brouillon d'un rêve grant from SCAM in 2019. She is currently developing a fiction feature film L'idylle with Frakas Productions. She holds a bachelor's degree in visual and spatial arts from the School of Graphic Research, and in philosophy from the Université Libre de Bruxelles. She is also a graduate of INSAS in directing.

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Director Statement

With the story of the 2013/2014 season of RC Auch in the French U19 championship, we want to tell outsiders who surprise favorites, the most comforting of sports stories, but also the birth of a group of friends, their transition to adulthood, and the rural exodus in the background. An exodus that no longer has much to do with the one experienced by our parents, grandparents or great-grandparents. In a world where losing means too much, the values of the local roots are coming back into fashion : who better to embody them than interntional rugby players Antoine Dupont, Anthony Jelonch, Grégory Alldritt and their friends ?