Over the last 4 years, Lilou left her secret life behind, becoming a 64-year-old woman who enjoys DIY, gardening, cycling and looking after her grandchildren. As I accompanied her through her transformation, I filmed a family healing its wounds and reinventing a place for everyone. This is my family, Lilou is my father.
SCREENINGS & AWARDS
World Premiere: ACID Cannes 2026
PRESS
Reviews: Screen Daily – Acquisition Announcement
DIRECTOR’S BIOGRAPHY & FILMOGRAPHY
Tom Fontenille
After geography and sociology studies and a master’s degree in documentary filmmaking, Tom Fontenille worked as a camera operator and regularly led filmmaking workshops. In 2025, he completed Mémé Kim, a medium-length film dedicated to his grandmother, who had been exiled to France. At the same time, he wrote and directed hist first documentary feature A Secret Heart, which won the Film en cours Award at the Belfort Entrevues festival and premiered at Cannes in the ACID selection.
Filmography
Sontay (20’, 2019)
Turbulences (25’, 2021)
Mémé Kim (52’, 2025)
A Secret Heart (88’, 2026)
CREDITS
Direction, camera Tom Fontenille
Written by Tom Fontenille, Valentine Bonnaz
Editing Marie Bottois
Sound Tom Fontenille
Sound Design & Mix Rym Debbarh-Mounir, Mélissa Petitjean
Composer Camille Delafon
Producers Helen Olive, Martin Bertier
Production company 5à7 Films
WITH THE SUPPORT OF
CICLIC – Région Val de Loire, in partnership with the CNC, the National Center for Cinema and the Moving Image, Festival International du film de Belfort Entrevues (Films en cours) post-production support, La puce à l’oreille, Studio Orlando, Lysi Media, Le Grand Action, and Périphérie
PRODUCER’S BIOGRAPHY & FILMOGRAPHY
Helen Olive
After studying literature at the University of Cambridge, Helen Olive began her career in Paris as a production manager and/or executive producer on French and international films by renowned filmmakers such as Ridley Scott, Alexander Payne, the Coen brothers, François Ozon, Sylvain Chomet, and Wim Wenders, as well as with producer Claudie Ossard. In 2015, she founded 5à7 Films with Martin Bertier, winner of the César Award for Best Documentary Short Film in 2023, the Best Debut Film Award at the 2020 Berlinale, the Rotterdam Film Festival Jury Prize in 2021, and the France TV Young Producer Award in 2021. In 2023, she launched 5à7’s first international executive production, an American horror film shot entirely in France, with the aim of developing this commercial arm of their company. She teaches film production at film schools in Paris to Master’s and Bachelor’s students. She is a member of the French and European Film Academies, 50/50, and Berlinale Talent.
Martin Bertier
PRODUCTION COMPANY
Winner of the 2023 César Award for Best Documentary Short Film and the 2021 France TV Young Producer Award, 5A7 Films is an independent production company founded in 2015 by Helen Olive and Martin Bertier.
With production hubs in Normandy and the Île-de-France region, 5A7 Films supports filmmakers from all backgrounds, whose cinematic aspirations know no bounds. We produce auteur films in a variety of formats: fiction, documentary, experimental, hybrid, video installation, archival footage, and more, paying particular attention to short films and debut feature films.
5à7 Films
7 Rue Saint Gerbold
14000 Caen France
contact@5a7films.com
https://www.5a7films.com
