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Published by Cannes
May 23, 2025
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IMAGO by Déni Oumar Pitsaev wins Cannes' Golden Eye – The Documentary Prize

After winning the French Touch Prize of the Jury on Wednesday, IMAGO by Déni Oumar Pitsaev was presented with Cannes' prestigious Golden Eye – The Documentary Prize tonight! We are so proud of the film team and grateful for the privilege to work on this incredible film. Congratulations! 

 

IMAGO

By Déni Oumar Pitsaev – CRITICS' WEEK

World Premiere

Rediance Films © 2025

 

 

dscape, deserves recognition. Pitsaev films the Pankissi community… with palpable compassion and curiosity.”

Vikram Murthi, IndieWire

 

"This peek into a region and a rarely seen piece of recent history will surely find admirers on the festival circuit."

Boyd van Hoeij, Screen International

 

"A strong festival entry."

Veronica Orciari, Cineuropa

 

"Whatever its echoes of war, Imago is a surprisingly lyrical documentary that even has traces of Chekhov."

Geoffrey Macnab, Business Doc Europe

 

  

 

IMAGO

France, Belgium

2025 - 109m - Color

Chechen, Georgian, Russian with French and English Subtitles

A Triptyque Films and Need Productions co-production

 

Producers

Alexandra Mélot, Anne-Laure Guégan, Géraldine Sprimont

 

When Déni inherits a small patch of land in the wild, beautiful valley of Pankissi, he sees a chance to finally build the house in the trees that he's dreamed of since he was a boy. But nothing in the rugged Caucasus is ever simple. Returning to a village just across the Chechen border where he was born - a place he barely knows - Déni stirs up old feuds, buried family dramas, and above all, the question everyone keeps asking: when, and with whom, is he finally going to get married?

 

US & INTERNATIONAL PRESS

Anne Takahashi, press@takapr.com

 

FRENCH PRESS

Karine Durance, durancekarine@yahoo.fr

 

 

 

 

 

About Déni Oumar Pitsaev (director)

Déni Oumar Pitsaev was born in Chechnya in 1986 and grew up between Grozny, St Petersburg and Almaty. He studied at Sciences Po in Paris before turning to cinema. He later obtained a bachelor's degree in film directing at the INSAS (National Institute of Performing Arts) in Brussels, followed by a master's degree in audiovisual arts at the LUCA School of Arts, St. Lukas Campus.

 

Déni is an alumnus of the Locarno Filmmakers Academy and the IDFAcademy. His debut feature documentary, Imago, will have its world premiere in competition at La Semaine de la Critique in Cannes. He is currently developing the script for his first feature film, Maspalomas.

 

Based between Paris and Brussels.

Photo: Triptyque Films

 

 

 

   

 

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