WHEN THE NIGHT FALLS
NORTH AMERICAN PREMIERE – CO PRESENTED by Toronto jewish film festival
De / from :
Daniel Auteuil
Avec / with :
Antoine Reinartz, Daniel Auteuil, Luàna Bajrami, Grégory Gadebois, Grégoire Colin, Yannick Choirat
Durée en minutes / Runtime :
100
Genre :
Historical drama
Langue / Language :
French - English subtitles
Pays / Country :
France
Au Cinéma le / in theaters :
Date de sortie / Release date :
May 17, 2026 (Cannes Film Festival) / January 20, 2027 (French theatrical release)
August 1942. Amid the German Occupation, the Vichy regime organizes a massive roundup of foreign Jews and gathers them at the Vénissieux internment camp near Lyon. Gilbert Lesage, a young civil servant with the Department of Social Services for Foreigners, is tasked with chairing a screening commission that will decide the prisoners’ fate. A Vichy directive changes everything: unaccompanied children must not be deported. Father Alexandre Glasberg and members of the Amitié chrétienne network then attempt everything, including forging documents and convincing parents to officially “abandon” their children, to save as many as possible before deportation to Drancy.
- “A powerful and necessary film.”
Translation from aVoir-aLire
- “La Troisième Nuit is a sober, well-judged drama about the Occupation that moves audiences without forcing pathos.”
Translation from Télérama
- “In a classic film focused on the essentials, Daniel Auteuil brings back into the light a cruel historical episode where personal ethics and the interests of the State collide (…) A dramatic atmosphere that the film fortunately conveys without overacting the emotion, choosing instead to focus on the dilemmas of civil disobedience faced by those who choose to listen to their hearts (‘I was afraid, but leaving would have been wrong’) rather than their authorities. A timeless choice.”
Translation from Cineuropa
- What stands out straight away about La Troisième Nuit (When the Night Falls) is its shift of gaze. While other films in the Selection center around De Gaulle or Jean Moulin, this storyline chooses to tell the story of the unsung heroes. (…) But beyond historical reenactment, La Troisième Nuit (When the Night Falls) is predominantly a story about the present. Daniel Auteuil stresses its contemporary resonance, “This isn’t a period film. It’s a modern-day film that uses a moment in history to tell the story of today.” At a time when the last remaining Holocaust victims are vanishing, the film serves as an important reminder of our duty to remember.
Cannes film Festival
- 2026 Cannes Film Festival (Cannes Première, out of competition)
- Festival du Film Francophone Biel/Bienne (3F2B), Switzerland, 2026 – Focus mémoire collective
No awards reported to date