Exclusive: It is Frank Dillane’s first time attending the Cannes Film Festival. He arrived a virtual unknown as the lead in Harris Dickinson’s directorial debut feature Urchin, shown in Un Certain Regard, and he will depart a star.

He notes with a hint of alarm in his voice that he hasn’t walked anywhere, “just been chauffeured around, given coffee,” and adds, “I haven’t seen any films, except our film.”

In the BFI- and BBCFilm-backed movie, Dillane plays Mike, a young man who’d known a better life in better days but had fallen through the cracks, landing with a hard thud.

Sidewalks were for sleeping on and for running away from harm. And Mike did not trust himself to depend on the kindness of strangers because he lacked the empathy to understand an act of selfless charity.

Related: ‘Urchin’ Review: Harris Dickinson’s Knockout Directorial...