Carine Tardieu’s All The Little Live Things has scooped the top prize at the Marché du Film’s Cannes Investors Circle pitching event connecting feature film projects with potential financiers and partners.

The project’s producers Antoine Rein and Fabrice Goldstein of Kare Productions were presented with the 2026 ArteKino International Prize worth €20,000 ($23k) to support the financing of the film.

The film is based on the 1967 California-set novel of the same title by Pulitzer Prize winner Wallace Stegner, revolving around a couple coming to terms with the death of their son in a surfing accident and the social and political chaos of the era.

Tardieu has transposed the story to the Normandy countryside for her adaptation which is due to begin shooting next month with Benoît Magimel, Léa Drucker and Melanie Thierry in the cast.

The Investors Circle win comes as Tardieu’s star is on the rise following the triumph of her last picture The Ties That Bind Us (L’Attachement) at the 2026 edition of the French Césars, where it won Best Film and Best Supporting Actress for Vimala Pons.

Starring Valeria Bruni Tedeschi as a happily solitary women who finds herself drawn into the chaotic life of her neighbors, young parents whose lives take a tragic turn, the film originally world premiered in Venice’s Orizzonti sidebar last year.

All The Little Live Things was among eight projects presented at the two-day Investors Circle event, with participating directors also including Juho Kuosmanen, who won the Cannes Grand Prix for his last film Compartment No. 6 as well as Atsuko Hirayanagi, whose Oh Lucy! played in Cannes Critics’ Week and Magnus Von Horn, whose The Girl with the Needle debuted in Competition in 2024. (scroll down for full project details)

This year’s program also explored the evolving role of brands within the film financing ecosystem, highlighting their growing strategic involvement and direct investment in cinema.

The event opened with keynote conversation by Koji Yanai, Group Senior Executive Officer and Director of the Board at Fast Retailing Co., Ltd., the parent company of Uniqlo. Yanai was a producer on Wim Wenders’ Perfect Days, which debuted in Competition in Cannes in 2023.

There were also a panel discussion on the topic featuring Rebecca De Pas (Film Fund Manager, Fondazione Prada), Elsa Huisman (Founding Partner, 111 Avocats), Philipp Manderla (Global Head, Red Bull Studios), and Brian Newman (CEO, Sub-Genre Media), looking at how brands are reshaping financing models and long-term engagement with independent cinema.

Full list of projects:

All The Little Live Things
directed by Carine Tardieu (France)
produced by Antoine Rein, Fabrice Goldstein at Kare Productions

CIGHID
directed by Emanuel Pârvu (Romania)
produced by Miruna Berescu at FAMart

Dream Come True
directed by Juho Kuosmanen (Finland)
produced by Jussi Rantamäki at Aamu Film Company, Katrin Pors at Snowglobe

Impunity
directed by Felipe Gálvez (Chile)
produced by Benjamin Domenech, Santiago Gallelli, Matías Roveda at Rei Pictures, EmilyMorgan at Quiddity, Alejandra García at Ronda Cine, Sylvie Pialat, Alejandro Arenas at Les Films du Worso.

Montjoie
directed by Noé Debré (France)
produced by Benjamin Elalouf at Moonshaker

The Passenger
directed by Magnus von Horn (Sweden/Poland)
produced by Jan Krüger, Roshanak Khodabakhsh at Port au Prince Films and Mariusz
Włodarski at Lava Films

The Returning
directed by Atsuko Hirayanagi (Japan/USA)
produced by Eiko Mizuno-Gray at Loaded Films

Wolfmother
directed by Ismaël El Iraki (Morocco/France)
produced by Alexis Hofmann, Sébastien Onomo at Special Touch Studios