Competition

Danièle Thompson

President of the Jury
Screenwriter, dialogue writer & director

Danièle Thompson was born in the early 1940s in Monaco, where her parents, the director Gérard Oury and the actress Jacqueline Roman, had fled occupied France to take refuge. Back in Paris at the end of the war, and after her baccalaureate and a first year studying law, she left for New York where she took art history classes. She stayed there for ten years while flying back to France regularly to work with her father and co-write several hit comedies with him that became cult classics, including La grande vadrouille (1966), Delusions of Grandeur (1971), The Mad Adventures of Rabbi Jacob (1973) and Vanille fraise (1989). Alongside her work with Gérard Oury, she also co-wrote the screenplays for The Party (1980), The Party 2 (1982) and The Student (1988), three popular films directed by Claude Pinoteau, with Sophie Marceau in the lead roles. Then, she co-wrote Jacques Deray’s Maladie d’amour (1988).

A renowned screenwriter, Danièle Thompson was Oscar nominated in 1976 for Best Original Screenplay for Jean-Charles Tacchella’s Cousin, Cousine, before being twice nominated for the Best Screenplay César: in 1995 for Patrice Chéreau’s Queen Margot, then again in 1999 for the same director’s Those Who Love Me Can Take the Train. She also co-wrote Élie Chouraqui’s Les Marmottes (1993) and Alain Berberian’s Paparazzi (1998). She then turned to directing with the family dramatic comedy The Log (2000). Co-written with her son Christopher Thompson, the ensemble film, which brought together, among others, Sabine Azéma, Emmanuelle Béart and Charlotte Gainsbourg, was nominated for a César for Best First Work, and won the Lumière Award for Best Screenplay.

Loyal to comedies of manners, the director also directed accomplished actors in her next two films, Orchestra Seats (2006), an exploration of the Parisian arts scene nominated for five César, and Change of Plans (2009), about shenanigans at a dinner party among friends. She then directed another ensemble film about the throes of family, It Happened in Saint-Tropez (2013), returning to a subject dear to her heart, followed by Cézanne et moi (2016), with Guillaume Gallienne and Guillaume Canet in the lead roles. More recently, Danièle Thompson co-wrote and directed Bardot, a miniseries based on the private life of Brigitte Bardot from 1949 to 1960, broadcast last year on France 2 and Netflix.

Camille Chamoux

Actress, comedian & screenwriter

Camille Chamoux made herself known in film in 2014 with Mona Achache’s feature film The Gazelles, which she also co-wrote. She went on to do comedies like Éloïse Lang’s Dumped (2018) and Our Happy Holiday (2018), which she co-wrote with director Patrick Cassir, and auteur films such as The Starry Sky Above Me (2017) and The Peace and Love Process (2022), both directed by Ilan Klipper. The actress then appeared in Édouard Deluc’s Pétaouchnok (2022) and Laurent Tirard’s Oh My Goodness! (2022). On the series side, Camille Chamoux filmed the mini-series I Love You 2 (2018) for Arte and, under the direction of Jonathan Cohen, the Canal+ parody series La Flamme (2020) and Le Flambeau (2022).

Last year, she appeared in the series Six Women for TF1 and Class Act on Netflix, before acting in David Diane’s film Number 10, broadcast last January on Prime. Previously, Camille Chamoux also made waves with “Née sous Giscard” (2013), “L’Esprit de contradiction” (2017) and “Le Temps de vivre” (2020), three one-woman shows that were solid critical and audience hits. She will soon appear in the Canal+ series Terminal, alongside Jamel Debbouze and Ramzy Bedia, then will be the face of a carte blanche for Canal+, Chamouxland, 20 Sketches in the brain of a woman, an original comedy fiction written, co-directed and co-produced by the actress.

Laetitia Dosch

Actress, playwright, stage & film director

After studying literature, Laetitia Dosch enrolled in the Cours Florent free class, then the Périmony School and the Manufacture in Lausanne, Switzerland. She made her first foray into film with Frédéric Mermoud’s Accomplices (2010) and met Justine Triet, who directed her in the short film Two Ships (2012) before entrusting her with the lead role in Age of Panic, presented in the Acid Program at the 2013 Cannes Film Festival. The actress then worked with Catherine Corsini (Summertime, 2015), Maïwenn (My King, 2015) and Christophe Honoré (Sophie’s Misfortunes, 2016). In 2017, she played the lead role in Léonor Serraille’s sophomore film Montparnasse Bienvenüe, earning a César nomination for Most Promising Actress.

The following year, she played the lead role in Anthony Cordier’s Gaspard at the Wedding, and Guillaume Senez directed her in Our Struggles. Meanwhile, she conceived and created the show “Hate,” a unique two-hander between her and her horse, presented at the Vidy-Lausanne Theater. She then acted in Danielle Arbid’s Simple Passion (2020), Jérôme Commandeur’s Irréductible (2022), Eve Deboise’s A Little Lesson of Love (2022), Lisa Diaz’s Libre Garance! (2022), Benoît Délepine and Gustave Kervern’s En même temps (2022) and Just Philippot’s Acid (2023). Last March, Laetitia Dosch appeared in Thierry Klifa’s dramatic comedy Rachel’s Game. She will soon be seen among the cast of the Larrieu brothers’ upcoming film Le roman de Jim and also just finished shooting her first feature as a director, Who Let the Dog Bite?

Caryl Férey

Writer & screenwriter

Born in Caen, Caryl Férey grew up in Brittany, and still carries its festive spirit. He published his first book in 1994, “Avec un ange sur les yeux,” then released his first crime novel, “Delicta Mortalia: Mortal Sin” that same year. Four years later, he returned with the much-discussed “Haka” (1998), a brutally lyrical thriller with razor-sharp dialogue set against the backdrop of New Zealand. Having fallen in love with the country on a trip around the world in his late teens, Caryl Férey once again set his next novel there, “Utu” (2004). This book won him the 2005 SNCF Thriller Prize, establishing him in the French crime novel world.

After New Zealand, his main crime novels have taken place in countries marked by a painful recent past – colonization, apartheid, dictatorship – serving as his stories’ backdrop: South Africa with “Zulu” (2008), Argentina with “Mapuche” (2012), Chile with “Condor” (2016), and Colombia with “Paz” (2019). Also an author of children’s books and music, Caryl Férey works additionally as a comic book writer and screenwriter. In 2013, he collaborated on Jérôme Salle’s feature film Zulu, an adaptation of his eponymous novel, the closing film at that year’s Cannes Film Festival, then co-wrote the screenplay for the same director’s Kompromat (2022). His last novel, “Okavango,” published last year as part of Gallimard’s Série Noire, takes place in Namibia, about rangers trying to halt wild animal poaching.

Noémie Lvovsky

Director, screenwriter & actress

After studying literature and a screenwriting curriculum at la Fémis, Noémie Lvovsky garnered notice in 1989 with her short film Dis-moi oui, dis-moi non. She went on to collaborate with Arnaud Desplechin, notably participating in writing La Vie des morts (1991) and The Sentinel (1992), then co-wrote The Phantom Heart (1996) with Philippe Garrel. In 1995, she wrote and directed her first feature film, Forget Me, followed two years later by the TV movie Little Girls for Arte, then the feature Life Doesn’t Scare Me, which won the 1999 Jean Vigo Award. She then directed Jean-Pierre Bacri, Nathalie Baye, Isabelle Carré and Melvil Poupaud in Feelings (2002), then Jean-Pierre Marielle, Sabine Azema and Valeria Bruni Tedeschi in Let’s Dance (2007).

In 2012, her sixth film, Camille Rewinds, which she wrote and directed and in which she also starred, was the closing film at Cannes Directors’ Fortnight. The film received numerous awards as well as 13 nominations for the 2013 César, including Best Film, Best Director and Best Actress. Alongside her work as a writer-director, Noémie Lvovsky enjoys a rich acting career. She has notably performed in Arnaud Desplechin’s Kings & Queen (2004), Bertrand Bonello’s House of Tolerance (2011), Catherine Corsini’s Summertime (2014), Julien Rappeneau’s Rosalie Blum (2015), Louis Julien’s Invisibles (2018), Alain Guiraudie’s Nobody’s Hero (2022) and more recently, Pietro Marcello’s Scarlet (2023) and Émilie Noblet’s Bis Repetita (2023). Her last film as a director, The Great Magic, a musical comedy adapted from the play of the same name by Eduardo de Filippo, was released in theaters last year.

Arnaud des Pallières

Director & screenwriter

Arnaud des Pallières started out doing theater as a teenager and studied literature then film at La Fémis. He directed a dozen short films including La Mêmoire d’un ange and Les Choses rouges. In 1989, he organized and filmed a conference given by Gilles Deleuze, entitled “What is the act of creation?”. He also shot several experimental films for television blending documentary and fiction, including a portrait of Gertrude Stein and Disneyland, mon vieux pays natal (2002). In film, he has directed several features: Drancy Avenir (1997), Adieu (2004), Park (2009), Michael Kohlhaas, starring Mads Mikkelsen and selected in competition at the 2013 Cannes Film Festival, and Orphan (2016).

Since 2004, Arnaud des Pallières has been working on a visual and aural fresco – a constellation of films, plural – depicting 20th-century American tales reinvented through archival footage from the American Prelinger collection. Through this suite of films, the filmmaker is exploring America as one might Atlantis, as a lost continent. Diane Wellington (2010), Poussières d’Amérique (2011) and American Journal (2023) arose from this original creative process. His eighth feature, Captives, a drama revisiting the story of the “madwomen’s ball” at the Salpêtrière Hospital in the late 19^th century and led by Mélanie Thierry, Josiane Balasko and Carole Bouquet, was released in French theaters at the beginning of this year.

Nicolas Pariser

Director & screenwriter

After studying law, philosophy, art history and cinema, Nicolas Pariser became a film critic for the magazine “Sofa,” then worked with Pierre Rissient for four years. In 2008, he directed his first short film, Le Jour où Ségolène a gagné, and continued the same political theme with La République (2009), winner of numerous awards including the 2010 Jean Vigo Prize. His next short film, Agit Pop (2013), was selected at Critics’ Week. He went on to write and direct The Great Game, his first feature film, which was presented at the 2015 Locarno Film Festival and received the Louis-Delluc Prize for a first feature that same year.

In 2019, his second film Alice and the Mayor premiered at Directors’ Fortnight and his main actress Anaïs Demoustier won the César for Best Actress. He then directed for Arte several episodes of the series In Treatment. His most recent film, The Green Perfume, presented at the Directors’ Fortnight, was released in 2022. A spy comedy based on a murder at the Comédie-Française, the film was born out of the director’s desire to blend a Hergé comic book with a Hitchcock film.