Competition

Bruno Podalydès

President of the Jury
Director, screenwriter & actor

In 1992, Bruno Podalydès made his first acclaimed short film, Versailles Rive-Gauche, which won the Public Prize at the Clermont-Ferrand Festival and the César for Best Short Film in 1993. The following year, he directed Voilà, which was recognized at the Venice Film Festival. In 1998, with the help of his brother Denis, he directed his first feature film, Dieu seul me voit (Versailles-Chantiers), a comedy that won the César for Best First Film. A screenwriter for all his works, he co-wrote a new film in 2001 with his brother, Liberté-Oléron, and directed its sequel ten years later, Granny’s Funeral, presented at the Directors’Fortnight in 2012.

In 2003, he adapted Gaston Leroux’s detective novel The Mystery of the Yellow Room with a cast of actors he reunited with in 2005 for a second adaptation, The Perfume of the Lady in Black. He then directed Park Benches in 2009, The Sweet Escape (2015), and Bécassine! (2019). Also an actor, he appears in all his own films but also worked under the direction of other filmmakers, including Claire Denis’Let the Sunshine (2017) and Jeanne Herry’s In Safe Hands (2018).

After French Tech (2020), in which he played one of the lead roles alongside his brother Denis, and Wahou! (2023), where he stars alongside Karin Viard, Bruno Podalydès continues with his quirky and slapstick comedy style with La petite vadrouille. The film, which also stars Sandrine Kiberlain and Daniel Auteuil, was released in theaters last June.

Camille Chamoux

Screenwriter, director & actress

After studying literature and training at the National Academy of Dramatic Arts, Anne Le Ny started out as a stage actress. She then moved into film, working with such directors as Agnès Jaoui, Claude Miller, Valérie Donzelli, Olivier Nakache and Éric Toledano. In 2006, she moved behind the camera for Those Who Remain, from her own screenplay, then directed My Father’s Guests (2010) and House in Brittany (2012). Anne Le Ny earned three César nominations: Best First Film and Best Original Screenplay for Those Who Remain, and Best Supporting Actress for The Intouchables.

In 2014, she directed The Chef’s Wife, followed by Family Business (2018). She has worked steadily as an actress: in Katell Quillévéré’s The Staple of News (2013), Audrey Estrougo’s Jailbirds (2016), Nicolas Boukrief’s The Confession (2016), Christopher Thompson’s The Butcher’s Daughter (2020), Tom McCarthy’s Stillwater (2020) and Franck Dubosc’s How to Make A Killing (2024). She also appeared in series and mini-series such as Mixte, A French Case and Bardot.

In 2022, she directed Spiral with José Garcia and André Dussollier. This year, Anne Le Ny starred in Ken Scott’s Ma mère, dieu et Sylvie Vartan and Alice Douard’s Des preuves d’amour. Her latest film as a screenwriter and director, Out of Control, was released last February.

Hugues Pagan

Writer & screenwriter

After teaching philosophy in Gérardmer and then in Dijon, Hugues Pagan left teaching in 1968 and worked in various jobs in the following years: journalist, bank attaché, and photographer for a local newspaper. He took administrative exams and was brilliantly accepted into the police inspector competition, a role he held for about ten years. He then turned to writing and published his first novel in 1982, La Mort dans une voiture solitaire, with the Fleuve Noir publishing house.

His crime novels, which belong to the noir genre, have earned him all the major awards in the field, including the Grand Prize of Crime Literature in 2022 for Le Carré des indigents. In addition to being an author, Hugues Pagan is also a screenwriter for films and television series. From 2008 to 2018, he wrote, among other things, the scripts for the France 2 adaptation of the Jean-François Parot’s Nicolas le Floch historical crime series. His latest novel, L’Ombre portée, was published last January by Rivages/Noir.

Caroline Proust

Actress, director, screenwriter & producer

After studying at the conservatory in Montpellier and then at the National Conservatory of Dramatic Arts in Paris, Caroline Proust performed in theater under the direction of Jean-Pierre Vincent, Stuart Seide, Philippe Adrien, Jean-Louis Martinelli, Alain Françon, Dominique Pitoiset, Ivo Van Hove, Christine Letailleur, and more recently with Charles Berling for the French premiere of Lars Nóren’s “C’est si simple l’amour”. In 2005, the actress became widely known for playing the leading role in Engrenages, Canal+’s first original series, which aired internationally for eight seasons over fifteen years and won an Emmy Award for Best Drama Series in 2015.

She also appeared in numerous films for television and cinema. Recently, Caroline Proust starred in the Netflix miniseries Notre-Dame (2022), written and directed by Hervé Hadmar, Marinette (2022), a biopic about international footballer Marinette Pichon, directed by Virginie Verrier, Virage, a TV movie by Delphine Lemoine set to air in May 2024 on France 3, and the Arnaud Malherbe’s series Mémoire vive, aired on M6 last February.

Caroline Proust is also a writer, director, and producer since 2017 of short films featuring Charles Berling and Alain Fromager, as well as a documentary, Engrenages dans la peau, broadcast on Canal+. Her first feature film, written last year and produced by Frédéric Bourboulon for Little Bear, is currently in development.

Alice Taglioni

Actress & pianist

After studying piano at the National Conservatory of Music in Paris, Alice Taglioni gave up her musical career and turned to acting. She appeared in TV series starting in 2002 and landed her first role the same year in François Armanet’s La Bande du drugstore. The actress achieved her first major success alongside Clovis Cornillac in Laurent Tirard’s The Story of My Life (2004), followed by Gérard Pirès’Sky Fighters (2005), and then starred in Francis Veber’s 2006 comedy The Valet.

Two years later, she was directed by Léa Fazer in What If…?, before reuniting with the director in 2012, when she was given the lead role in Cookie. In 2014, Alice Taglioni shared the screen in Audrey Dana’s French Women with Vanessa Paradis and Isabelle Adjani, and two years later, she played the role of Anne Guérande, a pianist, in Katell Quillévéré’s Heal the Living. She then alternated between cinema and TV films, before starring in 2019 in Arnaud Viard’s I Wish Someone Were Waiting for Me Somewhere, alongside Jean-Paul Rouve and Benjamin Lavernhe.

Shot in 2021 by David and Stéphane Foenkinos in Fantasies, the actress joined season 2 of the series OVNIS, for which she composed a few piano pieces for the soundtrack. After starring in Noémie Saglio’s Nice Girls in 2024, Alice Taglioni will be featured this year in Lucien Jean-Baptiste’s series Joseph and Benjamin Rocher’s series Lucky Luke.

Arnaud Valois

Actor & director

Having trained at the Cours Florent free class, Arnaud Valois became known in 2006 for Nicole Garcia’s Charlie Says, before being directed by Josiane Balasko in A French Gigolo (2008) and André Téchiné in The Girl on the Train (2009). After taking a several-year break from film, he returned to the big screen in 2017 with Robin Campillo’s 120 BPM, which won the Cannes Film Festival’s Grand Prize, and for which he won a Most Promising Actor Lumière Award and was nominated for a Most Promising Actor César.

He went on to appear in Alice Waddington’s Paradise Hills, then in 2020 filmed Arnaud Malherbe’s fantasy mini-series Moloch, Nicolas Maury’s My Best Part, and Suzanne Lindon’s Spring Blossom. He also appeared at the Paris Philharmonic in the musical “Le vilain petit canard,” set to music by Étienne Daho and directed by Sandra Gaudin. In early 2021, Arnaud Valois directed his first short film, The New Me, co-written by Suzanne Lindon, and returned to the stage for Jean Genet’s play “The Balcony,” adapted and directed by Sandra Gaudin at the Arsenic in Lausanne.

The actor then starred inSophie Levy’s first feature Medusa, Mélisa Godet’s dystopian series LT-21 and Dan Levy’s Good Grief, before last year joining the cast of Jérôme Salle and Audrey Estrougo’s series Becoming Karl Lagerfeld, in which he played Yves Saint Laurent. He is currently preparing to direct his sophomore film.

Jonathan Zaccaï

Actor, director, screenwriter & author

Originally from Brussels, Jonathan Zaccaï broke out in 2004 playing opposite Agnès Jaoui and Karin Viard in François Favrat’s The Role of Her Life, followed by Robin Campillo’s They Came Back. He then filmed Julie Lipinki’s romantic comedy The Best Day of My Life, before striking a darker note in Jacques Audiard’s The Beat That My Heart Skipped. After working with Ridley Scott in Robin Hood, the actor won the 2011 Magritte Award for Best Actor for his performance in Joachim Lafosse’s Private Lessons.

He also writes short film scripts, and ventured into directing in 2012 with Play It Like Godard, featuring Vincent Lacoste in the lead role. His fame exploded with the hit series The Bureau (2015-2020), in which he played agent Raymond Sisteron. Since then, Jonathan Zaccaï has played myriad film roles, notably in Gilles Lellouche’s Sink or Swim, Simon Curtis’s Downtown Abbey: A New Era, Denis Imbert’s On the Wandering Paths and Frédéric Sojcher’s Le Cours de la vie.

Meanwhile the actor remains loyal to television, where he alternates between series (La Tribu, Mister Spade), mini-series and TV movies, such as Olga Chajdas and Kasia Adamik’s Kabul and Renaud Bertrand’s Résistantes, soon to be on the air.