The Jury 2023

Kirsten Johnson

President of the 2023 jury, American director

Kirsten Johnson is a director and director of documentary photography. She was the first American to attend Femis, where she was part of the 5th promotion of the Department of Cinematography. Her latest film, Dick Johnson is Dead, won an Emmy Award for direction and the Sundance Jury Prize for Innovation in Nonfiction Storytelling. She was shortlisted for the Oscars and featured in the Criterion collection, like her previous film, Cameraperson. The film, a memoir composed from footage she has shot around the world, has been praised for its investigation into the ethics of documentaries. She has worked with directors such as Laura Poitras and Michael Moore. She is a member of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences and is one of the female members (which make up 5%) of the American Society of Cinematographers (ASC).

Sophie Faucher

Quebec actress and author

Trained at the Montreal Conservatory of Dramatic Art, Sophie Faucher has several strings to her bow, as an actress on television and in the cinema, an actress in the theatre, a columnist at Radio-Canada, writer, etc. Also active in Quebec dubbing, she is the regular voice of Queen Latifah and Kristen Johnston as well as one of the voices of Julie Christie, Viola Davis, Whoopi Goldberg, Allison Janney, etc. On television, she is famous for her role as former botoxed billionaire model Crystale Bouvier-Montgomery in the Quebec series, Le Cœur a ses raisons. She is the author of several children’s books, and has written two shows inspired by the life of Frida Kalho, which she performed in a one-man show for several years. She has just completed the filming of Denys Arcand's next film, Testament and in September 2023 she will start work on her new show: Une voix pour être aimée: Maria Callas.

Ovidie

French director

Ovidie is an author and director of fiction and documentaries, with a Doctorate in Literature and Film Studies, specialising in body issues, feminism, and sexuality(ies). Initially part of the pro-sex feminist movement, she spoke out in the late 1990s demanding better representation of women on screen. From the age of 19 she made a series of adult fiction for Canal +. All her films revolve around strong female characters. From 2010 onwards she turned to making documentaries (France 2, Arte, Canal +) and radio series (France Culture). Selected in 2018 for the Albert Londres Prize, she received the Amnesty International Award the same year. Since 2018, she has returned to fiction with two short films and the eight-episode series Des Gens Bien Ordinaires, a dystopia in which gender and power relationships are reversed.

Pedro Pimenta

Mozambican producer, director of the Maputo Dockanema festival

Pedro Pimenta began his film career at the National Film Institute of Mozambique in 1977. Since then, he has produced numerous short films, documentaries and feature films in several African countries. In 1997, he produced the film Fools, the first feature film shot by a black South African, Ramadan Suleman, and the same year Africa Dreaming, a chronicle of Africa in six acts. Between 1997 and 2003, Pedro Pimenta served as technical advisor to the UNESCO Film and Video Training Project for Southern Africa. He is a member of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. Pedro Pimenta is also the founder and director of Dockanema, a documentary festival in Maputo, Mozambique.

Jean-Claude Raspiengeas

French critic

Jean-Claude Raspiengeas is a writer, a voice and, as Marc Dugain described it, has "a style that is no longer as common in written journalism, employing choice and beautiful language." Journalist, critic, writer (author of a biography of Bertrand Tavernier), his career in print began at Nouvelles littéraires, before he continued in 1984 as a senior reporter for Télérama, leaving it in 2002 to become head of the Culture department of La Croix. He made two documentaries with Patrick Volson: Privés de télé, then Paroles d'otages (Fipa d'or, 1989). Jean-Claude Raspiengeas is currently a columnist and reporter at La Croix L'Hebdo, and a literary columnist on France Inter for Le Masque et la Plume. He draws on this wealth of experience to embark on immersive enqiries, for example, into the world of lorry drivers and riverboatmen, which he has expanded on in two books, Routiers and Une vie sur l'eau (conoclaste publishing).