Sabine Franel is better known as a film editor, who has collaborated with Manoel de Oliveira, among others. On the side, and on separate occasions for various reasons, she has made three candid, insightful short films: Les Bottes De Défunct (The Boots Of The Deceased) (1979), Leyla Zana, La Pasionaria Des Kurdes (Leyla Zana, The Pasionaria Of The Kurds) (1996) and Bloc-notes (Block Notes) (1997). With her first feature film, Le Premier Du Nom (The First Name), she's contending for Camera d'Or honours.

In Le Premier Du Nom we follow two genealogy zealots on a quest: they want to assemble as many descendants of Moîse Blin as possible to see what can be discovered about the man and the times in which he lived. Moîse Blin was an Alsatian Jewish peddler of the 18th century. When many of the descendants gather to join the quest ­ one of whom is Sabine Franel herself ­ the chronicles of this one family reach back to the French Revolution and carry on up to the present day. At the same time, the records offer a fascinating and exemplary history of the European Jew, from persecution to assimilation. Filmed appropriately in black and white, this gives the film an extra documentary edge that certainly fits the theme.

Ron Holloway