2026 Young Creation Grant Awardees

The Ideal Cinematheque of the World’s Suburbs Announces the Recipients of the 2026 Young Creation Grants

The Ideal Cinematheque of the World’s Suburbs is pleased to announce the recipients of the two grants awarded following the 2026 edition of the Young Creation Workshop, supported by the CNC, Rubis Mécénat, LaScam, and SACEM.

The Ateliers Médicis and Rubis Mécénat Young Creation Grant was awarded to Sadia Kossangue for her project Studio 68, while the CIBM New Cinematic Writing Grant of the Francis Kurkdjian Endowment Fund was awarded to Sara Kheladi for her film Les Naturalisables.

The Young Creation Workshop is a program of the Ideal Cinematheque of the World’s Suburbs, an initiative led by Ateliers Médicis and the Centre Pompidou, based on an original concept by Alice Diop. It enables artists to develop their film projects through a series of discussions, workshops, and meetings designed by a guest filmmaker.

The Young Creation Workshop is jointly supported by the CNC and Rubis Mécénat.

For its fifth edition, in 2026, the workshop brought together the following artists: Shadi Bensaïdi, Bamar Kane, Sara Kheladi, Sadia Kossangue, Nina Mélo, and Grace Seri.

We were also honored to welcome Rosine Mbakam as the guest artist and mentor for this edition.

As in previous years, two grants were awarded at the conclusion of the workshop:

• The Ateliers Médicis and Rubis Mécénat Young Creation Grant, established in 2023 and worth €8,000, provides support for the development of an artist’s project.
• The CIBM New Cinematic Writing Grant of the Francis Kurkdjian Endowment Fund, established in 2025 and worth €2,000, supports the writing phase of an artist’s project. This year, it was also supported by the Centre Pompidou.

Sadia Kossangue

Born on October 28, 2001, in Bangui (Central African Republic), Sadia Kossangue joined her parents in France at the age of ten. Alongside her film studies at Gustave Eiffel University, she directed her first films, which were selected for several festivals, including the International African Film Festival of Khouribga (Morocco), where she became, in 2025, the youngest filmmaker in competition.

Following her participation in Talents en Court (2023) and L’Atelier, a residency programme run by Cinémas 93 and Côté Court (2024–2025), she is currently taking part in the Young Creation Workshop, where she is developing Studio 68, her first feature-length documentary, in which artistic and political theatre intertwine.

About Studio 68

Ruth, an aspiring actress of Ivorian descent, navigates between the underground world of theatre and the realities of her daily life, shaped by the challenges of the naturalization process. Against the backdrop of the 2027 French presidential election, Ruth and her fellow students at the École du Nord drama school prepare for their final graduation performance.

Driven by a shared ambition, they seek to represent the world around them in order to create one that truly reflects who they are.

The 2026 Jury

In 2026, the jury was composed of representatives of the two grants’ supporting organizations.

For the Ateliers Médicis and Rubis Mécénat Young Creation Grant, the jury included Lorraine Gobin and Juliette Le Bihan, respectively Managing Director and Project Manager at Rubis Mécénat.

For the CIBM New Cinematic Writing Grant of the Francis Kurkdjian Endowment Fund, the jury included Stéphanie Morou, Executive Director, and Monia Triki, Board Member, of the Francis Kurkdjian Endowment Fund.

For both grants, the jury was completed by Cathy Bouvard, Director of Ateliers Médicis, and Eva Markovits, Programming Officer in the Cinema Department of the Culture and Creation Division at the Centre Pompidou.

The jury selected the following two projects from among the six participants:

STUDIO 68

The documentary project by Sadia Kossangue was awarded the Ateliers Médicis and Rubis Mécénat Young Creation Grant. The jury was particularly impressed by the filmmaker’s directorial approach in crafting the portrait of this young actress and hopes that this support will help preserve the project's creative timeline and enable the film to be developed under the best possible conditions.

Les Naturalisables

The project by filmmaker Sara Kheladi was awarded the CIBM New Cinematic Writing Grant of the Francis Kurkdjian Endowment Fund. The jury was especially struck by the singularity of the artist’s approach in bringing a highly contemporary subject to life through the voices of a couple confronted with relentless administrative hardship.

Sara Kheladi

Sara Kheladi is a journalist, filmmaker, and artist. Her research explores the notions of rebellion, pride, and resistance in peripheral territories and communities. She has collaborated with national media outlets such as Brut, France 5, and Arte, producing stories on subjects including the emergence of the techno scene in Kosovo, the making of the Gisèle Halimi icon, the organization of environmental movements across Europe, and the cultural revival of French PMU cafés.

In 2024, she was awarded the Création en cours grant from Ateliers Médicis, enabling her to pursue and develop this line of research through her first feature-length creative documentary. Les Naturalisables follows the naturalization process of an Algerian couple in their sixties who have been living in the Poitou-Charentes region of France for more than twenty years.

About Les Naturalisables

My parents, an Algerian couple in their sixties, are beginning the process of applying for French citizenship. They have already been denied twice. The French administration leaves open the possibility of an individual outcome: one may become French while the other may not.

Armed with my camera, I follow them through this third attempt, feeling our way forward step by step...