Avec Kim
A film by Claire Denis

A windowless car repair shop bathed in bright, white, fluorescent lights. From under a hulking, 1980s sedan emerges a young woman, her mechanic’s overalls and face covered in grease. After a hard day’s work fixing this automotive time capsule, she scrubs herself vigorously at the sink. This also takes time. Outside, daylight. The garage door opens and the car, transformed, eases cautiously into a Paris street. We recognize the driver, a siren of the city, now dressed in head-to-toe dark leathers. Her hair, the sunglasses: another era, before ours. We follow her on the daylit streets of Paris, driver POV, music accompanying, as a series of poetic encounters and minor mysteries unfold on her wordless way to meet Kim.

“Avec Kim”, directed by influential French film director and screenwriter, Claire Denis, is the 32nd commission from Miu Miu Women’s Tales. The acclaimed short-film series invites today’s most profound and original female directors to investigate vanity and femininity in the 21st century. Over five decades, Claire Denis’ films - often referred to as a “cinema of the body” - have dealt with themes of colonialism and post-colonialism from West Africa to modern France, with Beau Travail (1999) considered one of the greatest films of all time. This new short, “Avec Kim”, crystallizes the essence of Denis’ approach, which she has described as, “capturing bodies on film is the only thing that interests me.” A cinematic style that prioritizes sensory experience — visuals, sounds, and the physical presence of bodies - over explicit narrative or dialogue. “Avec Kim” celebrates and challenges female character tropes, such as sources of female strength, the playful power of female friendships and clothing’s ability to remake character.

Known to give her actors considerable freedom to adapt and improvise, Denis says that “the camera is my most important choreographer by being close and respectful to the actors.” “Avec Kim”’s lead is played by Suzanne Lindon. Daughter of acclaimed actors Vincent Lindon and Sandrine Kiberlain, Lindon grew up in a highly artistic Parisian environment. She made her acting debut in the French film “Spring Blossom” (2020), which she also wrote and directed at the age of 19. Kim Gordon, co-founder of legendary art-rock band Sonic Youth, turned visual artist, author and, lately, fashion-culture muse to multiple generations, plays the eponymous “Kim.” Gordon has also provided the film’s score, a sultry, sprawling sound work that portraits the city’s infinite human stories.

Claire Denis’ kinetic attention to intended gestures and generosities in “Avec Kim”, is emblematic of her film language, which she says, is “made out of tenderness and love of human beings even when they can be very brutal.” “Avec Kim” is a Parisian road-movie of small things: the contrast between women’s bodies, the characters they play, and the emotional vastness which surrounds them.

Born in Paris, Claire Denis spent her childhood in several African countries, most notably Cameroon. Returning to France at the age of 12, she discovered auteur cinema through a film-loving teacher. In 1972, she graduated from IDHEC and became an assistant director, working alongside Robert Enrico (“The Old Gun” in 1975 and “L’Empreinte des géants” in 1980) and Wim Wenders (“Paris, Texas” in 1984 and “Wings of Desire” in 1987). She met Agnès Godard, then Wenders’s camera assistant, who would go on to become her director of photography. She then worked with Jim Jarmusch on “Down by Law” (1986). In 1988, her debut feature “Chocolat” - a semi-autobiographical story set in colonial Africa in the 1950s - competed at the Cannes Film Festival, earned a César nomination, and was acclaimed by American critics. In 1994, “I Can’t Sleep” was selected for Un Certain Regard. In 1996, she won the Golden Leopard at Locarno for “Nenette and Boni”. There followed “Beau Travail” (1999), “Trouble Every Day” (2001), “Friday Night” (2002), “35 Shots of Rum” (2008), “White Material” (2009), and “Bastards” (2013), “Let the Sunshine In” (2017), and “High Life” (2018). Her film “Both Sides of the Blade” won the Silver Lion at the Berlin International Film Festival in 2022 while “Stars at Noon” won the Grand Prize at Cannes the same year. Her latest feature, “The Fence”, was released in 2025.

Claire Denis’ new episode for Women’s Tales premiered at the Venice Film Festival’s “Giornate degli Autori” on September 5th, 2026, alongside a screening of the 31st episode, “Discipline” by Mona Fastvold.
“Avec Kim” will afterwards be available on Miu Miu digital channels and later globally streamed on MUBI.