Odd Slice Films has sold French rights to Tom Adjibi’s debut feature This is Not a French Film to DFF (Decolonial Film Festival), following the film’s Grand Prix in the National Competition at the Brussels International Film Festival (BRIFF).
The feature, a playful hybrid comedy, follows actor and filmmaker Tom Adjibi as he attempts to create a fiction film written and performed by non-white actors. As the group comes together to shape the project, ambitions, tensions and realities of representation begin to collide.
For DFF, the acquisition marks the organisation’s first wide theatrical release, after the limited releases of The Encampments by Michael T Workman and Kei Pritsker with Watermelon Pictures, and LYD by Rami Younis and Sarah Ema Friedland.
This is Not a French Film will have its French premiere at the Festival for International and Independent Film in Bordeaux (FIFIB) in November 2026 and be released theatrically in France in 2027.
DFF founder Sam Leter comments: “This is Not a French Film embodies what we strive for with the DFF: making political discussions accessible through creative cinema. The film’s witty sense of humour, choral cast of eclectic characters, and raw critique of the racist French film industry, make it a bold and striking first feature. We’re thrilled to be able to accompany Tom’s vision by distributing it in France and imagining alternatives for cinema outside of colonial structures of power.”
Martina Droandi, founder of Odd Slice Films, adds: “We are delighted to see This is Not a French Film finding its French home with DFF, whose commitment to bringing decolonial stories to audiences makes them a particularly meaningful partner for the film.”
The film premiered at CPH:DOX, where it received a Special Mention, before winning the Grand Prix at BRIFF. The Belgian theatrical release launched in Brussels on 16 September.
This is Not a French Film is produced by Joël Curtz and Walid Bekhti for CVB (Belgium) and co-produced by Clothilde Bunod for La Société du Sensible (France). It is represented worldwide by Odd Slice Films.
