Documentary “La Détention,” Selected for Cannes’ ACID Sidebar, Joins Andana Films Sales Slate
According to CinemaDrame News Agency, Andana Films has acquired the world sales rights to La Détention, the second feature-length documentary by Guillaume Massart. The film is set to make its world premiere in the ACID sidebar at the Cannes Film Festival in late May 2026.
Set inside France’s prison officer training academy, the documentary follows recruits whose language, gestures, and beliefs gradually become aligned with the institution’s rigid structure.
The film is produced by Céline Loiseau of TS Productions. Commenting on the selection, Loiseau said: “We could not have imagined a better launch than being selected for Cannes ACID. The film immerses audiences in the training process of prison guards. Through this journey, Guillaume Massart penetrates the very heart of the prison system, while deliberately keeping the prison itself outside the frame in order to reveal the society that constructs it.”
Stéphane Rigaud of Andana Films added: “We have been following Guillaume Massart’s work for a long time. The selection of his new film for Cannes ACID is a significant recognition for this long-term project.”
In a joint statement, ACID selection committee members Maxime Jean-Baptiste, Thomas Pouplard, and Paola Termini said: “By placing prison guards at the center of La Détention, Guillaume Massart creates a self-contained institutional environment that confronts us with the Kafkaesque machinery of oppressive bureaucracy. Without ever becoming absorbed by the institution, he captures the officers’ words, their silences, and a discourse that is beginning to fracture. In the process, the gap between theory and practice appears irreconcilable.”
Organized by the French Filmmakers Association to support the theatrical distribution of independent cinema, the ACID sidebar has been part of the Cannes Film Festival since 1992. This year’s edition runs from May 13 to May 22.
