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Cannes Critics’ Week digging for emerging female talent

Alexia Muiños Ruiz
Alexia Muiños Ruiz

49% of female-directed films competing for Critics' Week Award.

The oldest sidebar section of Festival de Cannes has revealed the numbers of their selection process. 1620 short films and ca 1,000 features, counting about 30% female directors and 70% male directors.

As regards the line-up of 13 feature films, there are eleven first films and two second films to a total of seven films by female directors (54%). All seven competing films are first features.

7 debut films in competition

From 6 to 15 of July, la Sémaine de la Critique  will screen 7 films in competition, 4 special screenings and the opening and closing film. Seven films have been directed by women directors, highlighted here.

Opening film

For the first time since 2004, La Semaine de la Critique will open with a French film by a female director, Constance Meyer. ROBUSTE is her debut feature film as a director and she directs Gerard Depardieu.

Reaching parity in the competing feature films

Libertad , the debut film by the Spanish writer/director Clara Roquet, whose previous scripts resulted in multiawarded films such as 10.000Km or Petra (Director's Fortnight). The film is produced by AVALON and Co-produced by EWA member Kat Goosens

Piccolo Corpo (Small Body) by Italian filmmaker Laura Samani, already aquainted with Cannes since her shortfilm La Santa che Dorme was in the 2016  Cinéfondation line-up. Piccolo Corpo has been produced by Nefertiti Film ( founded by alumna of EWA Network Mentoring Programme, Nadia trevisan).

The French film of the competition is  a co-direction  of Julie Lecoustre withEmmanuel Marre, Rien à Foutre (Zero Fucks Given). After a promising mid-length film awarded in the 2018 Locarno Film Festival, the couple deliver a film featuring Cannes Best Actress, Adèle Exarchopoulos.

Special Screenings

Sandrine Kiberlain will present her first film, Une jeune fille qui va bien (A Radiant Girl).  Her shortfilm Bonne figure  closed the 55th edition of La Semaine de la Critique.

Charline Bourgeois-Tacquet, already a connoisseur of Critics' Week, will present her first feature film, Les Amours d’Anaïs (Anaïs in Love) featuring Valeria Bruni-Tedeschi and Anaïs Demoustier

Closing film

This 60th edition of La Semaine de la Critique will end on with Tunisian filmmaker Leyla Bouzid second feature film, Une histoire d’amour et de désir (A Tale of Love and Desire).

Bouzid previous film À Peine J'ouvre les Yeux was among the finalists of the LUX Prize and premiered in Venice Days (Venice Film Festival)