Doha Film Institute
"In the cold business district of La Défense, where steel towers pierce a restless sky and CCTV watches every shadow, a wave of suicides exposes the cracks of society. Amid the eerie glow of this collapsing city, lives collide as destruction emerges as the only chance for rebirth. "

"In the towering labyrinth of steel and glass that is La Défense, the business district of Paris, the city hums with an eerie, frenetic energy. Shot on gritty 16mm, interwoven with fragmented CCTV footage and surreal VFX, the film plunges into a decaying world where paranoia and dread linger like an unspoken curse. A meticulously crafted miniature city becomes both playground and battleground for this urban myth—a space where reality warps and collapses under the crushing weight of fear. A wave of mysterious suicides spreads through the district, igniting a collective paranoia that reverberates like a silent scream. Claire, Mister Ying, Catherine, and Madame Solange—isolated yet unknowingly intertwined—grapple with their inner demons. Beneath the city’s surface, a mysterious figure lurks, an oracle of the catastrophe yet to come. As the city crumbles, destruction becomes an inescapable force, but within the ruins flickers a fragile possibility of rebirth—a fleeting hope amid the devastation. A blend of film noir, fantasy, and social allegory, ‘Demons to Diamonds’ captures the collective paranoia of a society in freefall. Rendered in cold, decaying hues of blue and green, the film’s layered visuals and fractured narrative pose a haunting question: in a city consumed by ghosts, what does it mean to truly survive?"

Credits

Director
Valentin NOUJAÏM
Screenwriter
Valentin NOUJAÏM
Producer
Manon MESSIANT, Leonardo BIGAZZI
Production Company
Iliade et films
Cast
Avec Kayije Kagame (confirmed), Wei Yang (confirmed), Azedine Benabdelmoumene (confirmed), Taos Bertrand (confirmed), Denis Lavant (favoured), Zahia Dehar (favoured)

About the Director

Valentin Noujaïm
"Valentin Noujaïm graduated from the Screenwriting Department of La Fémis in Paris and was a guest student at the Städelschule in Frankfurt am Main. Noujaïm's work challenges dominant narratives in society, shedding light on the lives of individuals and communities historically marginalised by systemic violence. The fantasised worlds he creates through his films also underline his commitment to ex
Contacts