Forsaken

Forsaken (original title L'abandon), directed by Vincent Garenq and co-written with Alexis Kebbas with input from Samuel Paty's sister Mickaëlle, is a French drama about the final eleven days of history teacher Samuel Paty, murdered by an Islamist terrorist near Paris on October 16, 2020, after showing cartoons in a free speech class; the screenplay draws on Stéphane Simon's 2023 book Les Derniers jours de Samuel Paty and the subsequent investigation. Antoine Reinartz stars in the lead role, with Emmanuelle Bercot as the school's headmistress. The film had its world premiere out of competition at the 79th Cannes Film Festival on May 13, 2026, opening in France the same day. Who it's for: anyone curious about a recent French drama telling the real final eleven days of a real teacher, made with input from the victim's own sister. Who it's not for: viewers looking for a fictionalized, distanced story, since this is directly grounded in a very recent real tragedy.