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FEATURE FILMS JURY 

ASGHAR FARHADI – Feature film's Jury President

Iranian filmmaker Asghar Farhadi was born in 1972 and made his directorial debut with Dancing in the Dust (2002). After About Elly’s success (2009), for which he won the Silver Bear for Best Director at the Berlinale, Farhadi gained international recognition and critical acclaim with A Separation (2011), receiving no less than seventy awards, including an Academy Award and a César for Best Foreign Film. He then left Iran for France to shoot The Past (2013), which won Bérénice Bejo the Best Actress Award at the Cannes Film Festival in 2013. He then returned to Iran to direct The Salesman (2016) which premiered in competition at the 2016 Cannes Film Festival, where the film won Best Screenplay and Best Actor (Shahab Hosseini). The film became Farhadi’s biggest success and earned him the second Academy Award of his career. His latest film, A Hero (2021) won the Grand Prix at the 2021 Cannes Film Festival.

Asghar Farhadi's complete biography

CHRISTINE ANGOT

Christine Angot wrote around twenty novels, including Léonore, toujours (1994), Incest (1999) and An impossible love (2015 Prix Décembre), Le Voyage dans l’Est (2021 Prix Médicis) as well as multiple plays and scenarios. In 2004, her book Pourquoi le brésil was adapted to the silver screen by Laetitia Masson in Why (Not) Brésil. In 2018 it was Catherine Corsini who brought An Impossible Love to the cinema. Christine Angot has collaborated twice with Claire Denis, first on the screenplay for Let The Sunshine In, that drew inspiration from her work, and second on Both Sides of the Blade (2018), adapted from her novel Un Tournant de la vie (2018). We will soon have the opportunity to discover her as a director, in her very first film Une Famille.

REBECCA MARDER

Rebecca Marder made her debut in Ask the Kids!, The Round Up and Emma (Best Young Actress award at La Rochelle Film Festival). She joined the Comédie-Française in 2015 while pursuing her career in film and television. She starred alongside Fabrice Luchini and Leïla Bekhti in A Man in a Hurry, in Cédric Klapisch's Someone, Somewhere, and played Isabelle Huppert's daughter in Mama Weed. She worked under the direction of Arnaud Desplechin (Deception) and Sandrine Kiberlain, who gave her the leading role in A Radiant Girl. After working with Michel Leclerc on Not my Type, she starred in Simone, Woman of the Century (O. Dahan). In 2023, she was seen in The Great Magic (N. Lvovsky), The Crime is Mine (F. Ozon) and Grand Expectations (S. Desclous). 

IRÈNE DRÉSEL

High-colored techno, sensual and bold : voilà, a summation of the world of Irène Drésel. After two successive EPs, “Rita” (2017) and “Icône” (2018), her first album, “Hyper Cristal”, was released in spring 2019 and her latest album,  “Kinky Dogma”, was released in June 2021. She has performed at major festivals, including Le Printemps de Bourges, Fnac Live, Vieilles Charrues and also Scopitone, Ososphère, Arte Concert and Fusion Festival. Off stage, she recently stepped into the world of cinema by composing the original score for the Eric Gravel film Full Time. Irène Drésel won the César for Best Original Music, she is the first woman in history to win the César in this category. 

VINCENT LACOSTE

Vincent Lacoste made a breakthrough in The French Kissers in 2009. After starring in several successful comedies, he was cast in Hippocrate, a role for which he was nominated for a César Award for Best Actor. In 2016, he appeared in Parisienne, Right Here Right Now, Saint Amour and Victoria. He had top billing in The Freshmen and Amanda and returned to Cannes in 2018 with Sorry Angel. He also starred in Father and Sons, portrayed the hero in My Days of Glory, was cast in Lost Illusion (César Award for Best Supporting Actor), Winter Boy, Smoking Causes Coughing and starred alongside Sandrine Kiberlain in The Green Perfume. This year, he can be seen in A Real Job and will soon appear in Along Came Love.

SHORT FILMS JURY 

MONA ACHACHE - Short film's jury president

Self-taught Mona Achache began her career as an assistant director and script supervisor on both fiction and documentary projects. After directing two short films and a documentary, she crafted her first feature film The Hedgehog, loosely based on Muriel Barbery’s novel The Elegance of the Hedgehog. It was first released in France in 2009 and then in over thirty countries. The director continued on her eclectic momentum by writing for herself and for others, directing over twenty TV films, documentaries and TV series episodes for TF1 (HPI), France 2, Arte or Netflix. Her latest film Little Girl Blue, starring Marion Cotillard, was inspired by the life and writings of her mother, Carole Achache, and was presented in the 2023 Official Selection of the Cannes Film Festival.

PATRICK FABRE

After studying journalism, Patrick Fabre worked as a film critic for both print and audiovisual media. He played a role in the launch of the Gérardmer Film Festival and worked as a programmer for the Cognac and Deauville Film Festivals. He was the official host of the Cannes Film Festival’s red carpet for fifteen years and has been the master of ceremonies of the Angoulême Francophone Film Festival since 2008. He’s been the artistic director of the Saint-Jean-de-Luz Film Festival since 2009. Fabre is also a filmmaker, currently working on two feature films, Toi le Garçon and L’Étincelle, while finishing writing his first play Le Désordre des Choses.

FANNY SIDNEY

After studying at the Cours Florent and at the FÉMIS, Fanny Sidney began her television career in 2005 by appearing in popular dramas such as Diane, Crime Fighter, Police Commissioner Moulin and R.I.S Police Scientifique. She then made her big screen debut in 2008 with a role in Mesrine: Public Enemy No.1, and played supporting roles in Populaire, Respire and Hippocrate. Fanny is best known for her performances in the series Hard, Casting and for the part of Camille Valentini in Call My Agent. As a filmmaker, she presented two shows at the Séries Mania International Festival: Mobile Squad and Jeune et Golri, which received the Best Series Award.

VICTOR BELMONDO

Victor made his first appearance on the silver screen in 2015, starring in Michel Leclerc’s The Very Private Life of Mister Sim. He then secured more substantial roles in Vous Êtes Jeunes, Vous Êtes Beaux by Franchin Don or in Versus by François Valla. Liza Azuelos gives him a breakthrough role in 2019 with Sweetheart. In 2021, Belmondo starred in Fly Me Away by Christophe Barratier and in Xavier Legrand’s Albatros. In 2023, Victor performed in successful films and series, including Lie With Me by Olivier Peyon. He was also recently cast in Marie-Line et son Juge and will soon be seen in Gaël Morrel’s magnificent film Vivre, Mourir, Renaître.

LUCIE DEBAY

After starting her career on a theater stage, Lucie Debay appeared in Melody (Magritte Award for Best Actress in a Leading Role). She then starred in King of the Belgians, presented at the Venice Film Festival, as well as in Our Struggles, featured at the Cannes Critics’ Week, which earned her a second Magritte Award. She also played leading roles in Hunted, Madly in Life, By Your Side and in Lucie Loses her Horse, a sweet blend between reality and fiction. In 2023, she presented two films at the Cannes Film Festival: The (Ex)perience of Love and Omen. She will soon be seen in Marta Bergman’s upcoming feature film, L’enfant Bélier.

MEES PEIJNENBURG

Mees Peijenenburg was born in Amsterdam in 1989 and graduated from the Netherlands Film Academy. He was nominated for a Crystal Bear at the Berlinale twice, for his short films Even Cowboys Get To Cry and A Hole in My Heart. He also won the Golden Calf Award for We Will Never Be Royals. In 2016, he received the prestigious Dutch Directors Guild Award for A Hole In My Heart. He was later invited to The Residence program of the Cannes Film festival, where he wrote his first feature film Paradise Drifters, which premiered at the 2020 Berlinale. He is currently working on his new feature film Volcano.

GUESTS OF HONOUR

BÉRÉNICE BEJO 

Bérénice Bejo first gained public recognition by starring in Gérard Jugnot’s Most Promising Young Actress in 2000. She then received the Best Actress award at the 2013 Cannes Film Festival for her role in Asghar Farhadi’s The Past and the César for Best Actress for her role in The Artist by Michel Hazanavicius, for which she was also nominated for an Oscar.

She has worked both in France and abroad, collaborating with directors such as Joachim Lafosse, Marco Bellocchio, Tran-Anh Hung, Pablo Trapero, Sergio Castellitto, Tom Shoval, and so on. In 2016, she made her stage debut in the play Tout ce que vous voulez, directed by Bernard Murat. She also danced alongside Sylvain Groud in Trois Sacres. She most recently appeared in Camille Japy’s Sous le Tapis and in The Hummingbird by Francesca Archibugi. She will soon be seen in the Netflix film Shark by Xavier Gens.

RUBEN ÖSTLUND

After studying at the University of Gothenburg, Ruben Östlund directed his first feature film THE GUITAR MONGOLOID in 2005, winning the FIPRESCI prize at the Moscow Film Festival. 

All his subsequent films premiered at the Cannes Film Festival, starting with INVOLUNTARY (2008), selected for Un Certain Regard.  

He then won the Golden Bear at the Berlinale for his short INCIDENT BY A BANK (2010), which gave him the opportunity to experiment with techniques and style. This experimentation takes shape in PLAY (2011), presented at the Directors' Fortnight and for which he won the Nordic Film Prize (Scandinavia's most prestigious award). 

His fourth feature, SNOW THERAPY (2014), was presented at Un Certain Regard and won the Jury Prize. It was also nominated for a Golden Globe and shortlisted for an Oscar. 

Ruben Östlund returned to Cannes in Competition with THE SQUARE (2017), for which he won the Palme d'Or before being nominated for a Golden Globe and an Oscar. His latest feature, TRIANGLE OF SADNESS, was selected in Competition at the Cannes Film Festival. On this occasion, he won his second Palme d’or and received three Academy Awards nominations: best film, best director and best original screenplay.