Cédric Jimenez
President of the Jury
Director & screenwriter
Cédric Jimenez grew up in Marseille’s northern districts. In 2003, returning to France after a long stay in New York, he co-directed with Karole Rocher the documentary Who’s The B.O.S.S. – Boss of Scandalz Strategyz, which followed the eponymous collective that spawned the group NTM. He next collaborated on the screenplay for Scorpion, directed by Julien Seri in 2007.
In 2012, he co-wrote and directed Paris Under Watch, a first feature about a terrorist couple, played by Mélanie Doutey and Olivier Barthélemy, being tracked by a virtuoso hacker. The film was selected for the New Blood competition section of the Beaune Thriller Film Festival. Two years later, Cédric Jimenez returned behind the camera with The Connection, in which a judge played by Jean Dujardin goes on a solo crusade against a Marseille mafia figure played by Gilles Lellouche. In 2017, his third film, The Man With the Iron Heart, was released. Also inspired by true events and carried by Jason Clarke, the film relates the rise of Reinhard Heydrich, who became Himmler’s right-hand man and head of the Gestapo.
In 2020, Cédric Jimenez returned to his favorite genre, the crime thriller, with The Stronghold, about a group of Anti-Crime Unit police who cross the legal line in the northern districts of Marseille, reuniting with Gilles Lellouche from The Connection, surrounded by Adèle Exarchopoulos, François Civil and Karim Leklou. The film played in Official Competition at the 2021 Cannes Film Festival, then earned seven César nominations the following year in categories including Best Director and Best Film, and ended up winning the High School Students César.
Cédric Jimenez climbed the steps of the Cannes Film Festival Palais again in 2022 to present his new film November, a deep dive into the heart of counterterrorism during the five-day investigation that followed the November 13th attacks. Sustained by a rich cast including Jean Dujardin, Anaïs Demoustier, Sandrine Kiberlain, Jérémie Renier and Lyna Khoudri in the lead roles, the feature was also nominated for seven César awards in 2023, including Best Director.