Bertrand Mandico was born in Toulouse, France in 1971. After studying animation at the Gobelins School in Paris, he built a dreamlike visual world working exclusively on film. His talent was recognized through several shorts, including Boro in the Box (2011), screened at Cannes Directors′ Fortnight, and his feature debut, The Wild Boys (2017), was invited to Venice and won the Louis Delluc Prize for Best First Feature. After Blue (Dirty Paradise) (2021) won the FIPRESCI Prize at Locarno and went on to earn a string of awards at genre festivals including Sitges, Austin, and Toronto, building a devoted cult following. His third feature, She Is Conann (2023), was invited to Cannes Directors′ Fortnight. His latest film, Roma Elastica, starring Marion Cotillard and Noémie Merlant, had its world premiere to widespread acclaim in the Midnight Screenings section of the 2026 Cannes Film Festival. Having built a singular world through the texture of film and surrealist imagination, Mandico is regarded as one of the most exciting auteurs working in French cinema today.
