New Blood

Sami Bouajila

President of the New Blood Jury
Actor

Awarded at Cannes and Venice, double César winner for Best Actor and Best Supporting Actor, Sami Bouajila has always navigated between the stage and the big screen, auteur cinema and action films, dramas and comedies. After joining the Conservatory of Grenoble and then the Comédie School in Saint-Étienne, he landed his first film role in 1991 in Philippe Galland’s La Thune and made a strong impression four years later with Karim Dridi’s Bye-bye. He then appeared in Jacques Martineau and Olivier Ducastel’s The Adventures of Felix (2000), Abdellatif Kechiche’s Poetical Refugee (2001), and Rachid Bouchareb’s Days of Glory, for which he received the collective Best Actor Award at the Cannes Film Festival in 2006 alongside Roschdy Zem, Jamel Debbouze, Samy Naceri, and Bernard Blancan.

Two years later, Sami Bouajila won the César for Best Supporting Actor for his performance in André Téchiné’s The Witnesses, and then reunited with Rachid Bouchareb in 2010 for Outside the Law, presented in competition at Cannes. He later portrayed Omar Raddad in Roschdy Zem’s Omar Killed Me, earning a nomination for the César for Best Actor, before standing out in 2016 in Julien Leclercq’s The Crew. In this film, he plays a feared gang leader, a role he reprised in 2021 for the acclaimed Netflix series adaptation.

Winner of the Best Actor Award at the Venice Film Festival in 2019, Sami Bouajila reached new heights in 2021 with Mehdi Barsaoui’s drama A Son, for which he won the César for Best Actor. He collaborated again with Roschdy Zem in 2022 on Our Ties and returned to the stage the following year in Émilie Frèche’s one-man play “Un Prince”, directed by Marie-Christine Orry. He will soon appear in the series Un prophète, adapted from Jacques Audiard’s multi-award-winning film.

Noée Abita

Actress

Noée Abita came to prominence in 2017 with Léa Mysius’Ava, which was presented at the Critics’ Week at the Cannes Film Festival. The following year, she was nominated for the César Revelations Award. She then played the lead female role in Philippe Lesage’s Genesis, which was featured in the international competition at the Locarno Film Festival. In 2019, she worked with Charlène Favier on Slalom, which was in the official competition at Cannes. For this role, the actress received the Lumières Revelation Prize and a nomination for the César for Best Female Newcomer.

In 2022, Noée Abita was shot by Mikael Hers in The Passenger of the Night, alongside Charlotte Gainsbourg and Emmanuelle Béart. She has also appeared in several short films, including Julien Gaspar Oliveri’s Tender Age and Esther Mysius and Camille Rouaud’s Les Ardents, alongside Daphnée Patakia and Jonathan Couzinié. In parallel, the actress regularly participates in performances by Cham Lavant. Recently, she shot Carlo Sironi’s My Summer with Irene, which was presented at the 2024 Berlinale, and Victoria Musiedlak’s First Case. Noée Abita will soon be seen in Vanja D’Alcantara’s Cap Farewell, Jessica Palud’s series Merteuil, and Antony Cordier’s Classe Moyenne.

Stefan Crépon

Actor

Stefan Crépon trained at the National Conservatory of Dramatic Art and made his first appearance in cinema in 2018 in Cédric Kahn’s The Prayer. However, it was his role in seasons 4 and 5 of The Bureau series, created by Éric Rochant, that launched his career. He then appeared in Philippe Garrel’s The Salt of Tears (2020), Thomas Kruithof’s Promises (2021), and in three episodes of the Lupin series, created by François Uzan and Georges Kay, starring Omar Sy in the title role.

In 2022, the actor was directed by François Ozon in Peter von Kant, which earned him a nomination for the César Award for Best Male Newcomer. He then reunited with Cédric Kahn the following year for Making Of, alongside Souheila Yacoub, Jonathan Cohen, and Denis Podalydès. After Drone by Simon Bouisson, released in the fall of 2024, Stefan Crépon starred lasty January in Delphine and Muriel Coulin’s The Quiet Son, alongside Benjamin Voisin and Vincent Lindon. He will soon appear alongside Sami Bouajila in Rapaces by Peter Dourountzis.

Sayyid El Alami

Actor & director

Sayyid El Alami began his acting career in 2017 with several short films, including Félix Imbert’s Basses, presented in the Directors’ Fortnight at the Cannes Film Festival. In 2019, he appeared in Bertrand Bonello’s Zombi Child, and broke out the following year with a lead role in the Netflix series Messiah, created by Michael Petroni. In 2021, he filmed the series Une si longue nuit, a French adaptation of the UK series Criminal Justice, as well as Antoine Chevrollier’s Oussekine, in which he played the title role.

In parallel with his acting career, Sayyid El Alami moved behind the camera in 2023 to direct his first short film, La Bouteille. The actor recently appeared in Ludovic and Zoran Boukherma’s And Their Children After Them, playing in competition at last year’s Venice Mostra and released theatrically in December, and Antoine Chevrollier’s Block Pass, presented at the 2024 Cannes Critics’ Week and released in cinemas last February.

Florence Loiret Caille

Actress

Florence Loiret Caille took her first steps as an actress at the age of 17 in Érick Zonca’s short film Seule. While studying Literature, she alternated between film shoots and theater performances, making her big-screen debut in Martine Dugowson’Portraits chinois (1997), Benoît Jacquot’s Seventh Heaven (1997), and two films by Michael Haneke: Code Unknown (2000) and Time of the Wolf (2003). In 2000, she worked under the direction of Claire Denis in Trouble Every Day and later collaborated with the director three more times in Vendredi soir (2002), The Intruder (2004), and Bastards (2013). She was subsequently directed by renowned filmmakers such as Jérôme Bonnell, Guillaume Nicloux, the Larrieu brothers, and Agnès Jaoui.

In 2009, she starred alongside Daniel Auteuil in Zabou Breitman’s Someone I Loved, earning a nomination for the César Award for Most Promising Actress. Florence Loiret Caille has since balanced cinema, theater, and television, making numerous appearances in series and TV films. Her role as Marie-Jeanne Duthilleul in the Canal+ series The Bureau, which aired from 2015, cemented her popularity with audiences. More recently, she starred in Stéphane Marchetti’s Winter Crossing, for which she won the Best Actress award at the 2023 Sarlat Film Festival, and Stéphane Demoustier’s Borgo, which received the Jury Prize at Reims Polar last year. She will soon appear in Pierre Mazingarbe’s Magistrate and Alain Raoust’s Un champ de fraises pour l’éternité.