Critics Week (or La Semaine de la Critique), the selection dedicated to first and second films running alongside the Cannes Film Festival, will boast a jury presided over by Tunisian director Kaouther Ben Hania (“The Man who Sold his Skin”).
Ben Hania has directed four features, including “Beauty and the Dogs” which competed in Un Certain Regard in 2017, and “The Man who Sold his Skin” which played at Venice in 2020 and was the first Tunisian film nominated for the Oscars’ international feature film race.
The jury of the 61st edition will be completed by French-Greek actress and director Ariane Labed, Icelandic director Benedikt Erlingsson (“Woman at War”), Belgian cinematographer Benoît Debie, and South Korean journalist and Busan Festival’s topper Huh Moon yung.
Four prizes will be handed out by Ben Hania’s jury, the La Semaine de la Critique Grand Prize, the French Touch Prize of the Jury, the Louis Roederer Foundation Rising Star Award for best actor and the Leitz Ciné Discovery Prize for best short film.
The full lineup of La Semaine de La Critics will be announced on April 20. The strand is set to take place May 18-26. It will mark the first edition of Ava Cahen, a well-respected 36-year-old film journalist who took over as artistic director from Charles Tesson last August.
Last year’s Grand Prize went to Omar El Zohairy for “Feathers.” Previous winners include Jeff Nichols for “Take Shelter,” Santiago Mitre for “Paulina,” Gabriel Abrantes and Daniel Schmidt for “Diamantino,” and Jérémy Clapin for “I Lost My Body.”
