Summer Beats

Shai and Djeneba are nineteen and have been friends since childhood. They grew up in the same blocks in the nineteenth arrondissement of Paris. When summer comes they both take jobs as counsellors at a children's camp, out in the country away from the city. They have to look after children, keep night watch and make decisions on their own. There are other young people at the camp and the friendship turns into something else there. Djeneba settles in; Shai cannot. Before the summer ends each of them makes a decision. Lise Akoka directs with Romane Gueret. Fanta Kebe, Shirel Nataf, Amel Bent and Idir Azougli are in the cast. It is a French production. The film had its world premiere in the Cannes Premiere section at the Cannes Film Festival and opened on 7 January 2026. The two directors' previous film was also about working with children and young people and had been awarded at Cannes. The matter it treats is a friendship being rebuilt; two people do not grow at the same speed. The film does not present the camp as an escape; the work is hard and the responsibility real. The cast is largely non professional and a natural manner of playing is preferred. The narrative moves loosely and builds no large plot. The film gives the neighbourhood without falling into cliche. The ending offers a parting and a promise. Its limit is structure; the narrative is scattered, the pace slow, and the dramatic weight light. Who it is for: viewers who like French films about young people and naturalistic acting. Who it is not for: it is loose, uneventful, and the ending rueful.