We bet you will fall under the spell of this romantic comedy!

Throughout the week, AlloCiné invites you to discover some of the comedies of 2025 through a selection of the Alpe d’Huez Festival. The Isère Comedy Film Festival, now in its 28th year, presents both first feature films and discoveries, as well as films by more established directors.

The spotlight is on Avignon, Johan Dionet’s first feature film.

From Alpe d’Huez to Avignon… the Comedy Festival yesterday presented in competition a film directed by an actor, screenwriter and director who is one of the personalities “born” in Alpe d’Huez. Johan Dionet has been coming to the festival for more than 10 years; First as an actor in short films, before revealing his own works, including the short I will play Rodrigue, which became the feature film Avignon.

AvignonAs its name suggests, it is home to the town of the same name, which is famous for being the cradle of the famous theater festival that is held there every year. The film has a good idea to capture part of the life of the theater company before the festival is in full swing.

The pitch crosses romantic comedy and troupe comedy. The result is a film with a fascinating plot, full of twists and turns and engaging characters, some of them very endearing. Stéphane and her troupe arrive at the Avignon Festival to perform the boulevard play My Sister S’encruste. In a misunderstanding, she imagines him as a translator for Rodrigue, the lead actor in Corney’s prestigious “Sid” to seduce him, Stefanie plunges into a lie that will last the duration of the festival… but which will overtake her very quickly.

The film perfectly captures the extraordinary energy and atmosphere that inhabited these places during this period. “When I came to the Avignon festival for the first time, I was really surprised, director and screenwriter Johan Dionet tells us. “I was hallucinating because I didn’t think I’d get this much emotion in a few days, because today we’re obviously going to watch shows, there’s 1,500 shows, so at least we can’t see everything.

The Avignon Festival is a kind of colorful ant

I went to see shows where I laughed a lot, others where I cried a lot, all in one day. It’s nice, it’s hot. There are always people on the street to come and guide you, to explain what they do. There are parades, there are people in costumes, there are musicians… in fact, it is a kind of colorful ant that keeps us in stitches for three days. The first time I came, I was really a participant of the festival and I told myself that one day I must do the Avignon festival.Johan Dionet later performed there as an actor before filming it as a location for his first feature film, which he also shot partially in the middle of the event in July 2024.

He continues: “What’s funny is that most of the time when actors say they’re doing Avignon, they’re tired of going there, but when they’re not, they say to themselves: F***, I’m not in Avignon. this summer. Because we get the impression that it’s a bit like a place for the theater community. Like when you go to Cannes or do a festival, a big film festival, it’s nice to be there.“

Johann Dionet continues:It’s not just a romantic comedy, it’s a troupe comedy too. He was calmed, like everyone, I think, by brilliant films. I love troupe comedies, group comedies. I think it’s great. And Avignon has it. Because we are together in Avignon for 30 days. So obviously he’s making connections and creating a little family. I found that it lent itself very well to a troupe comedy, a group comedy.”

In addition to the atmosphere of a very successful group, Avignon is a romantic comedy full of charm. It’s worn by much-loved actresses, from Baptiste LeChaplain to Alison Wheeler to Elisa Erka. Avignon does not yet have a theatrical release date. The film is expected to be released in the spring-summer of 2025.

28th edition with first time stamp

Created in 1997, the L’Alpe d’Huez festival takes place, as its name suggests, in a winter sports resort. Located at an altitude of 1,800 meters in the middle of the Yser, the estate has been welcoming thousands of festivalgoers for almost three decades to discover the great titles of upcoming comedy cinema every year. The 28th edition of the festival, which started on January 13th, is underway: screenings, meetings and signings in the program are marked for the first time this week. Because among the ten feature films participating in the competition, seven are their directorial debuts, including L’amour c’est surcôté.