The Jury 2024

Nicolas Philibert

President of the Jury, writer and french director

Known for his intimate, sensitive and respectful approach to reality, Nicolas Philibert made his mark in 1978 with the documentary La Voix de son maître , co-directed with Gérard Mordillat, which explores the roots of capitalism through the discourses of a dozen major bosses of French industry. He subsequently directed several landmark films, including La Ville Louvre (1990), Le pays des sourds (1993), Un animal, des animaux (1995), La moindre des choses (1997) before Being and Having (2002), which, with nearly 2 million spectators in France, remains one of the biggest hits in theaters for a documentary. Over the years, these include Retour en Normandie (2007), Nenette (2010), La Maison de la radio (2013), De chaque instant (2018) and Sur L’Adamant, which won the Golden Bear at the Berlinale 2023. Her trilogy on psychiatry (Sur L’Adamant, Averroes & Rosa Parks, La Machine à écrire) is still to be discovered in cinemas.

Dyana Gaye

French-Senegalese director

Dyana Gaye studied cinema at the University of Paris 8 before becoming known with her first short film, Une Femme pour Souleymane E (2000). Subsequently, she directed several short films, including Deweneti (2006, Prix du Jury à Clermont-Ferrand) and the musical Un transport en commun (2009, Sundance, Locarno), both of which were nominated for César Awards. Her first feature film, DES ETOILES (2014), shot between Dakar, Turin and New York, was critically acclaimed. She received the Prix du Jury and the Prix du Audience at the Festival Premiers plans d'Angers, as well as the Prix France Culture Révélation. She was a programmer at ACID (Independent Cinema Agency for its diffusion) and is co-curator of Tigritudes, a subjective and chronological anthology of pan-African cinema. She is currently developing her next feature, Studio Kebe, a musical in Dakar.

Elise Jalladeau

Head of Thessaloniki International Film Festival

Elise Jalladeau is a French film producer and the current Executive Director of the Thessaloniki Film Festival in Greece. During her career, she worked with a new generation of filmmakers, including Martin Rejtman, Jia Zhang Ke and Darejan Omirbaev. In 2005, she founded her own production company, Charivari Films, and in 2010 was appointed Audiovisual Attaché at the French Embassy in Athens. Elise Jalladeau ran Ateliers Produire au Sud for a decade, providing a space for training and development for young producers around the world. Since 2010, she has also been leading the EAVE programme "Ties that Bind", a transcontinental training programme between Asia and Europe, underlining her commitment to the development of cinema on a global scale.

Mina Kavani

French-Iranian actress

Mina Kavani was born in Tehran and grew up in a family of artists. Trained at the Conservatoire d'art dramatique de Paris, she began her career on stage, acting in plays directed by her uncle, Ali Raffi, in Iran. Her role in Sepideh Farsi’s Red Rose (2014) earned her harsh criticism in Iran and exile. Supported by figures such as Isabelle Huppert and Bertrand Bonello, she obtained the status of political refugee and continued her career in France. In 2024, she starred in No Bears by Jafar Panahi, Special Prize of the Venice Mostra. She also starred in Israeli director Eran Riklis' Reading Lolita in Tehran and Colin Teague's series Embassy 87, which is scheduled for release this year. She writes and directs the autobiographical show I’m deranged, staged at the Athénée Louis Jouvet Theatre next year. In May, she appeared in Thomas Bernhard's Oui at the Théâtre de l'Odéon, directed by Célie Pauthe.

Francis Legault

Director at Radio Canada Première

Francis Legault was born in Montreal. He directed the film Le goût d’un pays with Gilles Vigneault and Fred Pellerin, for which he won the Public Award of the Montreal International Documentary Festival in 2016 and the Gemini Award for Best Documentary Screenplay in 2017. On television, he designed and directed the television adaptation of the radio show L’Autre midi à la table d’à côté (Gémeaux Award for Best Magazine in 2021). He directed the series Les pieds dans les plats and À la di stasio for which he received two Gemini Awards for Best Direction. He also directed seasons 2 and 3 of the series Les 5 prochains (2015-2018). He wrote the documentaries Totem Stories (2011) for Cirque du Soleil, Les Belles sœurs toujours aussi vraies (2011) and Je vous salue Pinard (2015) – which earned him a nomination for the 2016 Judith-Jasmin Award in the Interview/Portrait category. He is also the author of radio series including Vices et vertus des 7 pêchés capitaux in 2023 for French-language public radio stations.