A Place to Heal, directed by Cédric Kahn, who also plays a leading role, is set in an adolescent psychiatric ward. Most of the young cast have no prior acting experience, the use of music is restrained, and the camera tends to observe rather than intervene, giving A Place to Heal the feel of a documentary. Watching the fifteen- to eighteen-year-olds laugh and chat in the opening scenes, one might mistake the place for a school common room. Of course, the film soon moves beneath that surface. Uncomfortable words such as ‘violence, prostitution, and rape’ begin to emerge from children burdened by anxiety and trauma. It is unsettling to hear these children constantly talk about death and suicide, but the doctor tries to treat them not as ‘crazy, but as vulnerable children dealing with problems that require care.’ The hospital’s goal is also the film’s question: ‘Can these children lead ordinary lives once they return to the outside world?’ What is striking is the film’s attitude: rather than claim responsibility, it simply refuses to speak irresponsibly.
Cédric Kahn was born in France in 1966. He began his film career as an assistant editor on Maurice Pialat′s Under the Sun of Satan (1987), before his feature debut, Bar des rails (1991), was invited to Venice′s Critics′ Week. He won the Jean Vigo Prize for Too Much Happiness (1994) and the Louis Delluc Prize for L′Ennui (1998), before establishing himself as one of France′s leading auteurs with Roberto Succo (2001), invited to the main competition at Cannes, and Red Lights (2004), invited to the main competition at Berlin. He has also pursued a varied career as an actor — appearing as himself in the series Call My Agent!, among other roles — and stepped in front of his own camera for the first time in Happy Birthday (2019). His film The Prayer (2018) brought lead actor Anthony Bajon the Silver Bear for Best Actor at Berlin, and his true-crime drama The Goldman Case (2023) opened Cannes′ Directors′ Fortnight. He followed this with Making Of (2023), shown out of competition at Venice, and returns once more to the main competition at the 2026 Venice International Film Festival with his latest film, A Place to Heal.
From Busan International Film Festival 2026, No. 31
