Venice (Italy) (AFP) – Filmed almost exclusively with neophyte actors and actresses, the film “15/18”, in theaters Wednesday in France, offers an immersion into a psychiatric unit for adolescents where light sometimes emerges despite the harshness of everyday life.

Published on: 07/11/2026 - 11:58

Lead actress Malou Khebizi, 23, awarded the Best Newcomer prize at the Venice Film Festival, where AFP met her at the beginning of September, hopes that the film will resonate with her generation, particularly concerned by mental health issues.

QUESTION: You were almost the only professional actress among the twelve young people in the film. How was the filming?

ANSWER: “It was great, Cédric (Kahn, the director) has a rare and intelligent way of working: he does big set-ups only with the actors, without the technique.

He explained to us the situations, the scenes we were going to shoot. For young actors, it allows you to be completely concentrated and not be disturbed by technique or things that have nothing to do with what you are going to play.

These were very precious moments and it's rare to have an empty set, to discuss, to be free to speak with the director. Afterwards, he filmed with three cameras, so everyone was filmed and we kept the spontaneity of the scenes as much as possible."

Q: You play Lucia, a tough 17-year-old girl who has a difficult life and suffers from mental health issues. How did you approach this role?

A: "I was afraid that I had been fed clichés about psychiatry. As a result, I spent a day in the psychiatric emergency room at the Robert Ballanger hospital in Seine-Saint-Denis, where I met a psychiatrist who told me about borderline personality disorder syndrome (from which his character suffers, editor's note).

It is a mental illness that affects a large percentage of the population, especially women, to varying degrees. There are some who live with it very well, it's just like a personality trait, and it can be made worse by sexual assault, incest, trauma or a dysfunctional family.

My character has suffered a series of attacks since his childhood.

These are people who will tend to be excessive in their emotions. They make a lot of suicide attempts, but not with the aim of dying, more with the aim of attracting attention, like cries for help."

Q: Do you hope this film contributes to the debate around young people's mental health?

A: “I hope that it will touch my generation, because we are an ultra-fragile generation, by the state of the world which is quite awful and anxiety-provoking and also because we are the first internet generation.

There was Covid, we went through a lot of crises, and I think that accentuates mental health problems. These are subjects that are widely discussed in my generation but which have no more solutions than before.

There are a lot of gaps in medicine for women, research on molecules focuses a lot on men, even though we don't have the same hormonal cycle at all, which has a huge impact on mental health.

There is a real problem of research and resources for the public hospital too."

Q: Your career was propelled two years ago by “Diamant Brut”. This year you are in three films. How do you approach this emerging success?

A: "There are lots of things that have changed. I moved to Paris to be able to work (she comes from Marseille). I feel a little more serene than two years ago, when I loved my experience in +Diamant Brut+ so much, that I was extremely afraid of not continuing. So, I redoubled my efforts. And today I feel a little more legitimate.

I hope to continue, I'm doing everything to, and then I was lucky not to struggle thanks to +Diamond in the rough+. It was crystal clear, whereas my life before cinema was nothing but struggles, so it’s great.”

© 2026 AFP

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